Shattered Remnants
by ZakoBattledroid
Summary: A human finds a portal to the Lost Land. In the harsh, unforgiving Lost Land he makes unlikely allies and powerful enemies. Takes place after Turok 2: Seeds of Evil.
1. Leap of Faith

**Shattered Remnants**

**Chapter 1: Leap of Faith**

"We, the jury, find in favor for the plaintiff, Mr. Crownover and find the full damages to be sixty thousand dollars."

Zack couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was incompressible to him how he had reached this point.

"This is bullshit! How can he even sue me? _He_ attacked _me_!"

"Mr. Skellington, one more outburst like that and I will hold you in contempt of court."

Zack turned to his lawyer. "Do something!" He hissed between clenched teeth.

"There's nothing more I can do right now."

_Figures_, Zack thought. Despite having paid his lawyer a total of five thousand dollars, Mr. Mackler was at the bottom of the barrel when it came to lawyers. But he was the best Zack could afford and now it had become crystal clear that the American justice system favored the wealthy.

Zack Skellington had just lost a civil suit that was guaranteed to ruin the rest of his life. A year ago the plaintiff, a man named Chet Crownover, and another named Gordon Buckler had pulled out pocketknives and tried to mug Zack in the middle of the street. Acting entirely on impulse, Zack had struck Crownover in the jaw (subsequently breaking it). After the surprising show of force Buckler had fled the scene and called the police, claiming Zack had attacked them.

What resulted was a yearlong court battle in which Zack had tried to prove his innocence with no success. Despite the fact that pedestrians on the other side of the street had witnesses the attack, none ever came forward or could be found to testify on Zack's defense. Nor were there any video cameras watching the streets. So much for Big Brother ever being helpful. It ended up being a he said/she said fiasco in which Zack was outnumbered two to one. And the fact that Crownover came from a wealthy family and hired a pricy lawyer didn't help. Though one had to wonder why Crownover was mugging people on the street if his family had so much money. One also might wonder why Crownover was so insistent on pressing charges when he knew he was the attacker. Zack had a theory that despite being a jackass, Crownover was also extremely butthurt about the whole situation since Zack only stood at five foot nine inches while Crownover was six feet four inches. Getting knocked out by someone so much shorter probably hurt his pride.

Zack just went through the motions. He was barely paying attention anymore. He didn't have sixty thousand dollars. The money wasn't even the worst part. His would-be mugger had successfully sued him! Zack doubted the law would have done anything for him had Crownover hurt or killed him and managed to steal his money. Zack thought it infuriating that the law always seemed to do everything it could to protect criminals at the expense of innocent people.

He had finally gotten out of that miserable courthouse and into the parking lot, his beat up old 1981 Volkswagen Passat waiting for him. It took him three tries but he finally managed to get the engine started.

Face twisted in a scour scowl, Zack thought about what he was going to do as he drove home. He didn't have an extra sixty thousand dollars lying around. He was living paycheck to paycheck. Hell, he still had ten thousand dollars in student loans he hadn't paid back yet. Between what he had paid his lawyer, what he now owed Crownover, and his student loans; Zack was in the pit for seventy-five thousand dollars. _Looks like I'll be eating ramen for a good, long while…_

He pulled up to the curb in front of his home. It was an old, dilapidated house in an old, dilapidated neighborhood. It was the kind of place the upper class would refer to as a 'low-growth area.'

Ever paranoid, Zack took stock of his surroundings as he got out of his car and walked up to his house. Never knew when someone would run up and try to mug him again. When he thought about that for a second longer, Zack realized if he ever were mugged again it would probably be cheaper just to let the thief take his wallet.

He locked to door behind him. Despite the fact that he shared this house with five housemates the house was lacking in furnishings and furniture. Zack went up the stairs to his room.

He didn't have a traditional bed, just a mattress on the floor. It suited him just fine; Zack didn't see what the big deal was about bed frames. To him they were just a bunch of expensive crap that was a pain in the ass to take apart when one moved to a new place. When one moved around bouncing from job to job it helped to keep the moving process simple. Zack had spent his childhood, teen years, and young adult years bouncing around the midwestern region of the United States, an area often referred to as the 'Rust Belt' of the United States. Zack's parents had moved around, taking whatever jobs they could get, and when Zack came of age he found he would be stuck doing the same, despite having gone to college to try and increase his chances of having a better life.

_Better life. What a fucking joke._ Zack flopped down on the mattress and switched on the television. At least he had a television, a Nintendo 64 and a desktop computer with an internet connection. Of course life could be a whole lot worse, as today had just proven. Zack had food, shelter, and access to TV, games and porn. He had all the essentials (or what he would consider essentials). Life could definitely be worse… still; it could be a whole lot better too.

Some sort of blue aura appeared in front of him. Zack thought all the stress was finally getting to him. He was finally losing it. The mass of blue looked like rippling water, except that is was hanging midair in his room. It was giving off some sort of weird humming noise.

Zack closed his eyes and opened them again. The wavy blue aura was still there. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Still there. Zack switched off his television with the remote.

He got up off his mattress and circled around the blue mass, his stomach slowly starting to tie itself in knots. There was nothing behind it and nothing holding it up in the air. There was no way this was a prank by his roommates. They didn't have holographic projects as far as he knew. Plus this thing looked too damn real.

"What is this thing?" There was no one to answer his question. Zack thought about calling the police but quickly decided against it. He imagined if he got the authorities involved that somehow they would manage to blame him for whatever this thing was and arrest him for it.

Curiosity got the better of him. _What the hell do I have to lose anymore?_ He reached out a hand and touched the pulsating blue mystery mist. He didn't feel a thing, it was as if nothing was there… and he realized that was now partially true. His hand and forearm had disappeared into the blue! His hand hadn't gone through… more like gone _into_ the shapeless aura.

He pulled his hand back out. It looked just fine. Nothing felt wrong. His hand hadn't melted off, it wasn't shedding skin or on fire or some other equally horrible outcome. Zack did remember that his hand felt warmer when it was in the blue… there was a clear change in temperature; that much he was sure of. The knots in his stomach started to unwind, despite the otherworldly experience. Zack's mind started to conquer up ideas as to what the thing might be.

_Maybe it's some sort of portal to another dimension? That'd be great! I could get the fuck out of here and never return!_ The idea that the thing was a portal certainly held a certain appeal. There was little keeping Zack from caring about his world and current life. He had few friends, no girlfriend or wife, he had little contact with his family, and he was massively in debt. If this thing was a portal that could offer him an escape to a magical fantasy realm where he could break free of his boring life and crippling dept, why not take it?

Zack took a deep breath and jumped right into the wavy blue mass. And then the very fabric of the universe shattered and fell away.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from _Turok: Rage Wars_.

Zack Skellington is one letter off from Jack Skellington, the protagonist of the film _The Nightmare Before Christmas_.

The portal at the end of the chapter is based off of the free-floating bonus level portals that appeared in _Turok: Dinosaur Hunter_.


	2. Prey

**Chapter 2: Prey**

It was like changing the channel on the TV. There was no wild, tingly sensation, no thrilling ride through a winding prismatic wormhole. It was like switching from a crime drama to a fantasy anime.

But Zack had realized this was much more than TV. Not only had the picture and sound changed but also so had the smell and temperature. It was now hot and humid. The pungent smell of oil and metal and a few other things Zack couldn't identify assaulted his nostrils. A dim haze of smog was pushed along by a soft breeze. Zack focused in on the smog for a brief second before looking at the bigger picture before him.

There was trash… and junk as far as the eye could see. A few things were recognizable: cars, washing machines, television sets, a portable safe, and a radar dish. But there were other things Zack didn't recognize. Most things sported some variation on the color rust (if one could consider rust to be a color). At any rate he was certain he had been teleported into a junkyard.

"Teleported… I was teleported…. Holy shit! It is a portal!" Zack turned around. The wavy blue mass hanging in the air suddenly diminished in size until the humming noise it made ceased and it disappeared completely from sight.

"Oh… fuck." Zack walked through the space where the portal had been. Nothing happened.

_I'm trapped. I can't go back! Dammit, why am I so stupid? Maybe the portal will show up again if I just wait? Or maybe it's a one-way portal and I can't go back anyway? Why did I do that? What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Zack was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a noise. It wasn't just any random noise. It sounded like someone moving.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" Zack thought that was a stupid thing to say. But what was someone supposed say the first time they get sucked into some alternate dimension/realm?

Zack started moving towards where he thought he heard the sound.

_It might not even be a person. What if there are no humans here at all? What if it's some kind of monster that's going to eat me?_

As he walked, Zack noticed a lot of the cars lying around were clearly from different time eras. Some looked like they were from the 1920s, others from the 1940s. A few cars he recognized from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. There were even a few cars that looked like they were from the future.

_I need to stop looking at the damn cars and pay attention to that person sneaking around,_ Zack had to mentally remind himself. It wasn't really fair that he had to go looking for someone who wouldn't show themselves. He had only just arrived in this new world and he couldn't get a small break to take in all the scenery before being worried about being killed or eaten or some equally horrible thing. Life wasn't fair.

"How the fuck did that get here?" Zack stopped when he saw what looked to him to be a Greek trireme. In many ways it was weirder to see the ancient boat… even when compared to some of the others things he couldn't even identify.

He looked around again, almost losing track of where the sound had come from. The air had some sort of dirty yellow hue to it, probably not safe to breathe in. Then another potential problem crossed Zack's mind. _What if the air isn't safe to breathe?_ He was breathing the air right now, so at the very least the environment had to be similar to Earth's or he would have suffocated by now. But that didn't mean the air wasn't toxic and would slowly kill him over time. There wasn't much Zack could do about it. The portal was gone and there didn't seem to be any buildings he could take refuge in, just lots of junk and scrap metal.

Zack kept walking. The possibility that this was all a dream was starting to seem less and less likely. Besides the obvious fact that this felt real to Zack and didn't feel like a dream, it was taking too long. Dreams didn't take this long, and they tended to bounce around with time skips. Everything here was too consistent to be a dream. Zack kicked a bent tin can in his way and it skittered across the ground: cause and effect. Dreams didn't usually follow the normal rules of cause and effect. What ultimately convinced Zack this wasn't a dream was the fact that the whole situation was less fucked up than most dreams he had.

Zack rounded the corner of a car and saw… no one. He was so sure he had heard someone over here. _Guess not,_ Zack shrugged.

Zack heard footsteps coming up from behind him. He turned around just in time to see a human…

And suddenly there was pain.

The pain was real… very real. It hurt worse than anything Zack could remember. The pain pulsing across his face was crystal clear and sharp as a knife. It was far too real for Zack to entertain the possibility that this was all some sort of dream. Dreams didn't hurt this badly.

Zack only realized he had fallen to the ground after the man picked him up by the neck. A double-sided axe came within a hair's breath of Zack's face. Zack vaguely remembered the pommel of the axe had just been used to smash in his face. At least the guy hadn't used the sharp end.

"You're wasting your time. I don't have anything." Zack managed to focus through the pain enough to say something. He figured this was a mugging, and the mugger was going to be very disappointed.

The man started to laugh. "We want you."

"What?"

Zack heard more footsteps but he couldn't tell how many others were now surrounding him. Not that it mattered; it had only taken one guy to take him down.

Another voice spoke. "We're slavers. What, are you stupid or somethin'?"

"Maybe." Zack thought he might as well try the stupid card. Maybe there was a chance they didn't want stupid slaves. Though his answer came across more smartass than stupid.

"You better hope you're not. The dumb ones don't last too long."

_So much for that idea,_ Zack thought. It's not like he expected acting dumb would save him. He couldn't exactly think up any better ideas, not out of nowhere and with no time to think.

Manacles were slapped on his wrists and the men started searching him for any items of value. When Zack had gotten home, he put all his belongings away before turning on the television and then jumping through the portal, so Zack literally had nothing but the clothes on his back. He didn't even have his wallet or keys on him.

"Damn. He was tellin' the truth. He doesn't have anything."

"Doesn't matter. We're slavers, not scavengers. Hook him up to the girl."

"Wish they were all this easy." One of the slavers hooked up Zack's chains to those of a woman. From what Zack could tell she looked Native American.

The woman only gave Zack a quick glance.

"All right, move it!" The slaver gave Zack a shove, prompting both prisoners to start moving.

Zack was quiet for a few minutes. His face still hurt and he tried his best not to move any muscles. Anytime his muscles moved the pain felt worse. But eventually questions started to surface from the depths of his slightly groggy mind.

"Where are we going?"

"Shut up. You're going where we tell you to go and that's all you need to know."

_Great,_ Zack thought, _I'm not getting any answers outta these assholes. I don't know where I'm going… _Zack thought on it a second more and figured out the answer. _They're going to sell me. Who are they gonna sell me to? What will I have to do?_ Zack's mind raced with dozens of horrible possibilities.

Zack obediently followed behind the other slave he was chained to. He had no idea how long he had walked without saying a word. The other slave never spoke at all and the conversation between the slavers was sparse. Zack wasn't able to glean any useful information from their almost-nonexistent dialogue.

They followed the path of least resistance, the areas that had the least amount of garbage on the ground. Most of the time it felt like they were following a set path, as if someone had previously come in with a bulldozer to move huge heaps of scrap out of the way so people could walk around the junkyard more easily.

Zack finally had the sense to count how many slavers there were: six in all. Not that it mattered much, if it ever came to a fight he couldn't take one of them let alone six. It was easy to tell they were heavily muscled, as all but one was shirtless. They did have a fondness for wearing grey hoods that concealed everything but their eyes. While it was clear that each one of them was physically stronger than Zack; that was not even the biggest problem. They were all armed with weapons. One had a single-barrel shotgun; another had a large pistol. One was holding what looked to be a minigun. The others looked to be holding various types of rifles but Zack couldn't get a good look at each one.

Another thing that drew Zack's attention was that fact that all the slavers (and the slave) looked human. Zack was certain he was in some alternate dimension. There was no way he could be sure they were _actually_ human. They just might look human. Perhaps humans as Zack knew them only existed in his own dimension. But they clearly weren't space aliens or elves or some sort of fantastical race of beings from some fantasy RPG so Zack decided to consider them human.

It was starting to feel like they had been at this a few hours. They had been walking around a junkyard… for a few hours. Zack wondered just how big this scrapheap was. Then the possibility that the entire planet might be one big junkyard entered Zack's mind.

They finally stopped to rest. The slavers enjoyed some food and water, though none was offered to the two captives. The slavers had to remove their hoods in order to eat. Zack saw that they were indeed human, but didn't look too long. Zack really didn't think he needed to memorize their faces. Besides, he was sure he would get yelled at (or worse) if he were caught staring at them.

The slavers seemed pretty distracted with eating and conversation so Zack decided he try and talk with the other poor soul who was bound in heavy chains.

"Hi. I'm Zack Skellington."

The woman stared at him. Zack felt like an idiot. It wasn't his fault; he had no idea how he was supposed to strike up a conversation with someone who had been caught by slavers.

"My name is Aniwa. You would do well not to speak so much. The slavers may decide to cut out your tongue if you annoy them too much."

"They would really do that? Wouldn't they need me to be able to speak?"

"Not all slaves need to speak to do their jobs."

That revelation was certainly a conversation killer. Zack closed his mouth.

Aniwa took a quick glance at the slavers to make sure they weren't paying them too much attention.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You have no survival instinct or common sense."

"You are correct. I'm not from here. I don't even know where 'here' is."

"You're in the Lost Land."

"Yes… I am definitely lost in this land. Is this whole place one giant junkyard?"

"No."

"I came here from some sort of portal. It was this weird, wavy blue thing that hung in the air. Is there some way I can get back home?"

"I doubt it."

"Is this the future? Or some alternate dimension?"

"The Lost Land—"

"Shut up you two!" One of the slavers yelled.

They were quick to do as they were told.

* * *

Soon enough the group started walking again. The miserable silence allowed Zack's mind to wander and think of all the horrible outcomes that might await him. Paralyzing fear would have crept into Zack's heart if not for the fact that it had been dulled by thirst, hunger, pain, and fatigue.

Zack now knew he was in the Lost Land… but that told him nothing. Thinking on the dreary-sounding name of the place only brought more questions to Zack's mind… like _why_ the place was called the Lost Land.

There was someone in the back of Zack's mind that ate away at him. Something seemed to be different from before. He had plenty of time to think and finally figured out what was bothering him so much. Before the slavers had talked amongst one another, not much but they talked. Now they were dead silent. Zack wondered why that was.

The answer was soon to reveal itself. The slavers were not the masters of this particular region of the junkyard.

A shot rang out, though it was unlike any firearm Zack had heard before. A green streak of light connected with one of the slaver's hooded heads and it evaporated into a red-green haze.

"Ambush!" The remaining five slavers scattered, trying to take cover behind whatever scrap was large enough to protect them.

The minigun roared to life. A series of green explosions impacted on the ground, sending dirt and debris flying in all directions.

Aniwa and Zack had been all but forgotten. Aniwa bolted forward, determined to get away. Still bound together by the chains, Zack was forced to follow at her speed or risk getting dragged. Zack didn't think he had the inner reserves to keep up with the woman but he had surprised himself. Despite his great fatigue and hunger, he felt an impressive surge of strength in his legs he didn't know he possessed. Fear was a powerful motivator. This was not the paralyzing fear that resulted in inaction. This was definitely the primal desire to flee a fight. This was the fear of getting shot or blown up in the crossfire, fear that the slavers would win and continue to hold them as prisoners… fear that whoever was attacking the slavers was far worse.

"Over here." Aniwa yanked Zack over to a large metal claw. The claw was attached to a huge metal arm, but whatever was attached to the arm was buried under a pile of scrap. A snapshot image of some long-dead killer robot entered Zack's mind before reality forced him to focus.

Aniwa raised the chains connecting them over the metal claws. "On three. One, two, three!" Together they slammed the chains down over the claws… and they broke. Aniwa repeated the process again on her own to sever the link that bound her hands together.

Zack was hesitant to go again. Before Aniwa hadn't given him a choice, but on his own he momentarily caved in to the paralyzing fear… the possibility that he might accidentally slice his hands open on the rusty metal claws. It wasn't an entirely unreasonable fear; the chains that bound his two hands together were much shorter than the chain that hooked him to Aniwa.

"Hurry!"

"I—" Bullets sprayed in their direction. Aniwa turned and ran. Zack started to follow. He could get free of the manacle's chains later. Better to stick with the one person who didn't seem hostile—but then the option was taken away.

"You're not going anywhere!" One of the slavers hit Zack in the back. He fell over. He jerked his head up almost as soon as he hit the ground, hoping to see Aniwa… but she was already out of sight.

"We didn't come out here for nothing! But if we can't have you, no one will!"

Zack bolted forward on all fours, moving at a speed never before seen in human crawling. The bullets barely missed him. Zack managed to get up and run behind a pile of garbage but the slaver was no fool. He was already moving around the pile from the other side.

Zack stopped dead in his tracks when he came face-to-face with the slaver's pistol pointed in his face.

"Game over," the slaver sneered.

Zack's life flashed before his eyes… it was boring. He never did anything extraordinary or exciting. He never did anything memorable. Nobody would care that he was gone save for a few close family members. It didn't matter that he was ever alive at all. His whole life had been a worthless waste.

A shot rang out—but it was not a bullet from the pistol. It was some focused, green energy blast. The slaver was hit in the shoulder but it was not merely a flesh wound. The slaver's shoulder was gone… his arm had fallen free of its body as red blood splattered upon the dusty ground. The slaver fell over backward. He was dead but still leaked a stream of crimson from where his shoulder once was.

Zack noticed that the sounds of battle had died away. There was complete silence. The unknown attackers had won. Zack didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing but he was about to find out. He turned around to get a look at his savior… or future tormentor.

"Dr. Zoidberg?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from _Turok: Rage Wars_.

Aniwa appeared in the 2008 animated film _Turok: Son of Stone_.

The slavers' appearances are based off of the Campaigner's second skin (named Slaver) in _Turok: Rage Wars_.


	3. Bomb Shelter

**Chapter 3: Bomb Shelter**

"What did you call me?" An unnatural voice spoke.

"… Dr. Zoidberg."

"I don't know who this… Zoidberg is, but I am not him and I hold no doctorate."

The individual who had just saved Zack was indeed not the lovable Dr. Zoidberg of _Futurama_, but that was the first thing that came to mind when Zack looked at the alien.

A pair of bright green eyes stared back at the human. Two tendrils fell from its face. The thing's face had a weak lavender hue to it; so weak it was nearly gray. The bipedal being was coated in armor except for its head. Pristine black armor was highlighted by a pattern of radioactive green. The thing's shoulder armor was huge. Its right hand held a long, black rifle pointed loosely at the ground. Considering what it had done to the slaver, Zack figured it to be some futuristic energy weapon.

"Umm… sorry. Wrong person. Thanks for saving me." Zack saw movement in his peripheral vision and turned to see another of the creatures. Though they looked identical the second being had a different color scheme. The second one's eyes were a deep purple instead of green, and its skin was a stronger shade of lavender than the other's. Its armor was bronze-brown instead of black with green highlights.

"All enemies have been eliminated," the purple and brown one said.

_Well since I'm not eliminated, I guess they don't consider me an enemy,_ Zack thought. It wasn't much but it was something.

"There was another slave with me. She ran off that way." Zack pointed. He had already decided he would be as helpful and cooperative with his rescuers as much as possible.

"Doesn't matter." A voice came from behind. Zack turned around to see a human woman.

"She looked like a tribal. She won't be of any use to us." The first thing Zack noticed was her bald head. The second was the fact that she had a robotic eye and a robotic arm.

"And you think this one will be?" A large, severely overweight human appeared. He was a mountain of a man, standing seven feet tall at least. His arms were gigantic… each one easily as thick as a normal man and were completely robotic. His legs were thin and skinny. Zack had no idea how the man could possibly keep his balance let alone move around. Like the woman he was also completely bald and had a robotic eye. Overall the visage of the large man made Zack slightly sick to his stomach.

"He doesn't look like much to me."

"No one does, next to you," the woman said.

A slender robot appeared, followed by a trio of what looked to be bipedal lizard people. The robot carried a staff that had large bright cyan balls of light at the ends. The lizard people had rifles.

Considering the aliens and people with robotic parts standing around, Zack would have been more surprised to see a bipedal robot that looked like it was designed for combat… or lizard people. There were so many surprises all piling on one after another that it was hard to register the fantastical grandeur of it all.

"Are we keeping him?" One of the lizard people asked. Zack saw that he wore either black armor that had dulled over time or silver armor that had darkened over time, he couldn't tell which. He also had a helmet and an extremely lengthy rifle.

"Yeah. I say we at least give him a chance," the bald woman said.

"Release him," the alien in black armor ordered.

The skinny robot stepped forward. "Raise up your hands, please."

Zack did as the robot requested. One of the glowing ends of the robot's staff shattered the manacles and they fell away from his hands before the melted metal had a chance to burn him.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." The robot stepped back.

The alien in black armor took a step forward to gain Zack's attention. "I am Commander ZG-83, leader of the Last Remnant. State your name, affiliation, and intentions."

"Oh, give him a break, boss," the woman said, "it's obvious he's a foreigner. Just look at him!"

"Uh, my name is Zack Skellington. I have no affiliation. And I am a foreigner. I'm from another dimension… or something. I came through a glowing blue portal thing. I've only been here a few hours… I think."

"So, those slavers caught you right outta the gate, huh?" One of the bipedal lizards asked.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"He doesn't sound worth it to me," the huge man spoke.

"You guys wouldn't happen to know a way I could get back home?"

"Negative," Commander ZG-83 answered. "You may accompany us if you wish."

"What if I don't?"

"Then we leave you here and you fend for yourself," the lizard with the aging silver/black armor said.

"Ah… I'll come with you guys."

"Good choice," the woman smiled.

"Xandra," Commander ZG-83 spoke to the woman, "since you're so keen on keeping him, you will take care of him until we return to base."

"Fine by me."

The alien turned to Zack. "We are returning to our base. There could be many dangers on the way. You will be silent until given permission to speak."

Zack nodded. If he was supposed to be quiet he might as well start now. He figured the less he spoke the less chance he had of accidentally pissing these people (and robots) off. The last thing he needed was for them to abandon him to whatever else was out and lurking about in the junkyard.

They started their journey. Zack and his keeper, Xandra quickly fell to the back of the group. Zack was rather enamored with the little gang before him (the Last Remnant or whatever the alien had said): two squid-faced aliens with broad shoulder armor, three spindly lizard people, an equally spindly robot with a single horizontal bar for an eye, and two completely bald humans with robot parts. Zack was surprised that the larger members of the group were actually much quieter than the smaller ones. He figured that would have been reversed, but what did he know? Not much and he wasn't going to be getting any answers until they got back to their base.

Zack found it interesting that the current group he was with was made up mostly of non-humans, yet they were far nicer to him than the group of human slavers that had captured him earlier. He wondered how much species loyalty meant when it came to forming alliances in the Lost Land. Back on Earth, species loyalty meant nothing since humans only had other humans to kill. He wondered if all the different countries and cultures of Earth would band together if they were attacked by a foreign invading force of non-humans. It was a silly thought but it took his mind off more depressing matters.

They took paths that were more difficult to traverse than the slavers had. Zack had to wonder if the more official looking paths were prone to ambushes or if their base was just out of the way.

* * *

It was hard to gauge time without a watch or similar time-telling device but Zack knew the day was coming to a close when it had started to get dark. It was nearly pitch-black by the time they reached their destination. A few artificial lights helped make out the outline of some sort of bunker nestled amidst heaps of scrap.

ZG-83 input a pass code on the door's control panel and the massive metal doors slid up, allowing them access inside. Once they had all walked through the doors slowly shut again.

Zack heard the rhythmic sounds of mechanical movement and quickly guessed it to be legs. He looked past the others in front of him to see two massive robots approaching. One was red and the other was gold. They both had some sort of ranged weapon on one arm and a shiny metallic shield on the other. The two hulking robots came to a halt.

"Commander," the gold one spoke, "there is an unidentified individual in the base."

"Mark him as friendly."

"Yes sir."

"Don't worry about GR-12 and RR-17. They're sweethearts." Xandra noticed the look of worry on Zack's face when he saw the two large robots.

Zack merely nodded.

"You can talk now." Xandra was not amused with the human's continued silence.

"Yes, you may speak now. You may ask us questions if you wish. I'm sure you have many," ZG-83 said.

The group began to move to a different part of the bunker, though Xandra and ZG-83 and the spindly robot remained close to Zack, as if they were guarding him.

The lighting was dim and Zack thought the interior would have been better lit. He didn't know if it was because they had a limited source of power or they preferred the dark.

They emptied into a large, open room. It was filled with a few crates, tables and computer terminals. The different individuals went about doing different things, but stayed within earshot. Zack figured this place was some sort of rec room.

"Right…" Zack tried to collect his thoughts. There were so many things to ask and he wasn't sure where to start. "So, what is the Lost Land? I asked the other slave where I was and that was the answer I got before the slavers told us to shut up. I know nothing of this place besides its name. Where exactly am I?"

Xandra spoke: "The Lost Land is a dimension that exists outside normal time and space. It is connected to all times and dimensions but tied to none. One might describe it as a 'hub' dimension. I myself am not from the Lost Land. I came here through a portal."

"You haven't been able to find a way back?"

"That's the hard part. The tears between times and dimensions… they are random. You get dumped here and there's little chance of going back home to the dimension you came from."

The large human cut in on the explanation: "The portals often suck in people, sometimes even parts of entire worlds into the Lost Land. Very rarely do the portals ever spit people out into other dimensions. And with the possibility of infinite alternate dimensions, there is little chance of you turning to the one you are originally from. You will likely spend the rest of your life here. How long you live will be determined by your ability to fight."

"So is there some government-run organization for dimensionally-displaced individuals I need to report to, or something?"

All the non-robots started to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Government? In the Lost Land? That's hilarious!" One of the lizards said.

"You won't find any government here. At least not on the scale you're thinking. The most we have here are a few powerful city-states connected by a string of treaties," Xandra explained through her laughs.

"Stop laughing!" ZG-83 boomed. "You think the Lazarus Concordance is a joke? They are our greatest enemy!"

They were quiet for a second.

"Sorry to say, Zack." Xandra put her hand on his shoulder. "But you won't find anyone who gives a shit about your problems more than us."

"Oh…" Zack decided to go over and sit on a couch he saw. A slightly moldy stench wafted into his nostrils as he sat down. He was quiet for a while and the others were content with letting him sit on his own.

It was all a bit much to take in. This wasn't a dream… he really was in another dimension. It was likely Zack would never return home. Thinking on it some more it actually wasn't all that bad of a situation. Zack didn't have much in the way of friends and he had few family members he regularly came in contact with. But he had just had all of his debts and past problems wiped clean. No more courts, no more being sued, no more student loan repayments… Zack hadn't felt this free in a long time. It was just too bad he hadn't wound up in a less violent dimension.

Xandra came over to sit next to him on the couch. "So, I know you have a lot to think about right now but there is something we should probably take care of soon."

"What's that?"

"Your hair."

"What about it?"

"It needs to come off."

"Why?" Zack thought that statement was a little odd.

"Helps avoid lice and fleas… and makes spotting ticks easier."

"You've got to be kidding."

"I'm not. You think I shaved my head for fun?"

"No. But… you guys have advanced weaponry I don't recognize… and robots! You don't have a more modern way of dealing with lice?"

"Nope. Technology is give and take around here. We take whatever the Lost Land happens to gives us." Xandra pulled on Zack's arm and he followed her. They left the rec room down a large hallway.

The walls were made of cerement and were a fading cream-white color. Black and yellow hazard stripes adorned the walls right where they met the ceiling. The floor was a dark gray metal.

"Does anyone make anything?"

"Some of the larger city-states do. But you've seen everyone in our little group. We have no factory. We end up having to use whatever gets sucked into the junkyard, mostly."

"I asked the other slave if the Lost Land was one giant junkyard, but she said it wasn't."

"It isn't."

"Shouldn't it be? I mean… if things keep getting sucked in from other dimensions, wouldn't the Lost Land be covered in stuff from other places?"

"Some areas of the Lost Land are more prone to the inter-dimensional pull than others. These areas would be the junkyards and they dot all across the Lost Land. Other places are more natural… but ultimately anything can get sucked into any part of the Lost Land. We're here."

"Huh?" They had reached a bathroom. She led him in and shut the door.

"Strip," she instructed.

"What, why?"

Xandra rolled her cybernetic eye in annoyance. "So you don't get a lot of tiny hairs embedded in your clothes. Duh."

"I'd rather keep my clothes on…"

"If it would make you feel better I could strip too…"

"Ah, you don't need to do that."

"You're not from some prudish dimension, are you?"

"Maybe."

"Look, you get a ton of hairs on your clothes and you're gonna get real itchy. Then we'd have to wash 'em and you won't have any clothes to wear where while we do that. You'll be without clothes for an even longer amount of time."

"Don't you guys have some spare clothes I could borrow?"

"You've seen our group, right? We don't have a lot of clothes that would fit a _normal_ human male."

"Those lizard guys can't be too far off from my size."

"I doubt the slegs would share any of their armor with you. That leaves me as the closest thing for a match. And as you can see, I don't wear all that much." Zack had to admit she was right; she wore a tattered black tank top fastened down with a pair of suspenders. Her black cargo pants were tight. If all her clothes were like what she was currently wearing Zack had no chance of fitting into any of them.

"Fine. But I'm gonna need more clothes later. I can't spend the rest of my life with just a single pair of clothes."

"We'll find you some more later. But for right now, I need you to strip. Okay?"

Despite being severely uncomfortable about the whole situation, Zack removed his clothing as he had been told. Xandra had him sit on the toilet seat as she pulled a razor from the wall cabinet.

"Hold still or I might accidentally cut an ear off." Xandra switched on the razor and got to work. Zack had never had his head shaved before. It was a weird sensation, losing so much hair in a few swift strokes. It was like his head was an overgrown lawn and she was cutting it down with a lawnmower. All the while the cyborg hummed as she worked.

"Tilt, please." Xandra's free hand nudged the back of his head, prompting Zack to look downward as she sheared away the hair on the lower back of his head.

At various points Xandra urged Zack to tilt his head in various directions. He was lucky that her cold metal hand was gripping the razor while her natural one touched his head. Her skin was soft to the touch and very pleasant. That combined with the silky sound of her humming voice and Zack was starting to get turned on. This was definitely not something he wanted to deal with right now. He desperately tried to will his erection away.

"There, all done." Xandra cleaned the razor and put it away. She turned and looked down at his crotch. "Want some help with that?"

Zack tried to hide himself with his hands. "No thanks. Maybe another time?"

"Suit yourself," she shrugged. "Sooner or later you'll learn to loosen up and have some fun. Go ahead and take your shower. I'll be waiting for you outside the door." She left.

It was a mortifying experience; though it had all happened so fast Zack barely had any time to worry about it. Xandra was right though, there was hair everywhere. Some of it stuck to his skin and it was itchy as hell.

Zack was thrilled to discover that at least there was hot water and shampoo. Showering, Zack finally discovered how weird his head felt shaved. It wasn't exactly bad, just different from what he was used to. Zack knew he'd have to toughen up. He was probably going to have to deal with a lot of new and different things. Having his head shaved was probably one of the easier changes. If he couldn't even handle that then he was going to be in trouble.

* * *

When Zack finally got out of the shower and got dressed he found that Xandra was indeed waiting for him right outside the door to the bathroom.

"Took you long enough."

"It was hard getting all those hairs off. Um… sorry about the mess." The bathroom still had his hair all over the floor. "I don't see a broom anywhere."

"Let's go get one."

Zack followed the cyborg.

"So what is Z… eh… Z…" Zack couldn't remember the alien's name. Who could possibly remember a string of numbers and letters as someone's name?

"ZG-83?"

"Yeah. What is he, exactly?"

"He's a biobot."

"What's that?"

"A construct. A being born part organic and part machine."

"No way."

"No lie. From what I've heard his kind were born on assembly lines."

"Wow."

Xandra pulled a broom and dustpan from the closet and they return to the bathroom.

Zack started to sweep up as Xandra continued to explain. "The one in the brown armor is EV-97, he's an elite. ZG-83 is the one who runs things here though. Oh… I guess I haven't really introduced myself properly. My name is Xandra Ravid." She learned her shoulder up against the wall. "Don't meet too many new people around here, or at least ones that don't immediately start shooting at us."

"The Lost Land is really that bad?"

"More than you can possibly imagine."

"Terrific."

"That's how I knew you were a foreigner when I first saw you. You didn't try to attack us or flee."

"I think it would be stupid to attack the people that had just saved me."

"Oh, there's plenty of stupid people around here… in the Lost Land, not in this base. But you'll find that out soon enough." Zack wasn't quite sure what to think of Xandra's statement. He genuinely hoped the people of the Lost Land were stupid, that meant he had a better chance of surviving. Though Xandra and her group didn't seem like they were top of the heap, given their numbers. Maybe the Lost Land was sparsely populated? That certainly seemed like a real possibility if city-states were the largest governments in the land.

Zack finished cleaning and they started to walk down the hallway when Zack suddenly stopped. A robot walked down the hall opposite them, but Zack hadn't seen this one before. Its metal limbs were ridiculously thin, with the exception of its forearms. It had a weird triangular-shaped head that slanted upward. Its shoulder and chest armor was bright pink and the top metal casing of its head was purple.

"I thought you said I'd seen everyone in your group? I haven't seen that robot before."

"Oh, the bots? They don't count. They're just worker drones. They don't do any fighting unless we get into real trouble or the base is under attack."

"Oh."

They returned back to the rec room.

"So, I might as well show you around and help you meet everyone." Xandra grabbed his arm and took him over to the slender combat robot.

"This is CS-33. He's a cyborg."

"Hi," Zack said meekly, "I'm confused, isn't he a robot?"

"Negative. I am a cyborg."

"Maybe I have a different understanding of what a cyborg is. Isn't a cyborg a human with mechanical parts added?"

"Yeah," Xandra said, "like me."

"CS-33 looks like a full robot to me."

"I can explain that," CS-33 said in his heavy robotic accent, "my body is a robotic shell. My brain is human, however."

"That's a lotta robotics. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

"That's something I can't fully answer myself. I have no recollection of my memory as a human."

"So you don't know who you are?"

"I don't know who I was before the alteration."

"So you have no memory of what is was like to be human? That sucks."

"Makes no difference to me. I can't remember so I can't _miss_ it. I did have a purpose though. I used to be a soldier in the Campaigner's army."

"Who's the Campaigner?"

"This is gonna take a while," one of the slegs called over from across the room.

"Give him a break, it's his first day in a new dimension," Xandra shot back. "He's doing very well so far."

"We'll see how long that lasts," the large human said.

"Shut up, Zoran!"

Zack just stood silent as he listened to the members of the Last Remnant bicker with each other.

The cyborg CS-33 eventually got back to his explanation. "The Campaigner was a powerful cyborg and my master. He sought to unify the Lost Land but was ultimately defeated by those who resisted his rule. What was left of his armies became disorganized and confused. Many of us were hunted down and destroyed. Some of the less loyal soldiers deserted altogether."

"What did you do?" Zack asked.

"I followed the chain of command until there was no one left to take orders from. I am ineffective on my own so my priority was to search for allies. My original objectives of serving the Campaigner and his military could no longer be fulfilled. I was found and absorbed by this organization, the Last Remnant."

"What is the Last Remnant, exactly?" Zack asked.

The biobot ZG-83 stepped forward to answer. "The Last Remnant is a coalition of soldiers from several different fractured militaries that can no long operate on their own. CS-33, GR-12, and RR-17 belong to the Campaigner's army." ZG-83 motioned over to the two huge robots. "EV-97 and I belong to the Primagen. Silvac, Meakrous, and Venom over there used to serve Lord Tyrannus." He pointed over to the three slegs. "And of course Xandra Ravid and Zoran Zlatko are from alternate dimensions. Their armies may not be disbanded but they cannot reach them."

"So what do you guys do?"

"Survive, mostly," Xandra answered quickly.

"We seek to destroy our enemies," Commander ZG-83 answered. The biobot commander purposefully did not divulge the specifics of their enemies or what one of the group's ultimate goals was, he didn't trust the human enough for that yet.

"I don't have any enemies," Zack said.

"You already do. You just haven't met them yet," the biobot said.

Zack's stomach started to growl. He realized he hadn't had a meal in forever. There had just been too much going on, too much information flooding him to worry about eating.

"I'll go get you some food." Xandra took the hint and left. Zack felt uncomfortable now that she had gone. She seemed to be looking out for him and that had provided some measure of comfort.

Zack went back to the couch and sat down. He didn't really know what to say at the moment. Apparently he had enemies now. He hoped they weren't too numerous; the Last Remnant didn't exactly have a lot of members and he wasn't exactly a fighter himself.

One of the lizard people came over to the couch but didn't bother sitting down.

"What are you?" Zack asked before the bipedal lizard-man could speak.

"I am Silvac." He was spindly yet his voice was raspy and deep.

"Nice to meet you, Silvac." Zack stood up and offered to shake hands but Silvac didn't move to accept the greeting.

Silvac crossed his then arms over his armored chest instead. "I'm a sleg. What, you've never seen a sleg before?"

"No. Where I come from there are only humans."

"Only humans? What do you eat, each other?"

"No, we're not cannibals. There are animals. Humans are the only ones capable of speaking and critical thinking."

"How boring that must be. Must be very peaceful. You will find that this land is not."

"No, where I'm from the humans are split into factions and fight each other all the time."

"Perhaps you will not be so helpless here then."

"I dunno." Zack did know though. He didn't know how to fight; he was no soldier. If they expected him to fight then he was screwed. "So where am I, exactly?"

"Didn't we already go over this? Is your memory that weak?"

"I don't mean the Lost Land. I mean this building right here."

"This is some old bomb shelter that got sucked in from another dimension."

Xandra came back with a pot of soup, which she handed over to Zack. He sat back down on the couch and Xandra sat next to him. Lacking any utensils or bowel Zack had to drink straight from the pot. It tasted all right. He couldn't determine what the chunks of meat were but thought it best not to ask about that.

Silvac left to the other side of the room to congregate with the other two slegs.

With his soup soon finished Zack had one particular question he wanted to ask. "One thing's been bothering me. All you guys, the slavers, you're all speaking English. I would'a figured if I were transported into another dimension everyone wouldn't be speaking the same language."

"Dunno." Xandra shrugged. "But you're all speakin' Kavakian to me."

"I thought maybe there's some magical translation spell that's cast when you travel through the portal."

"No. You will find there are those that speak languages you cannot understand. But you're missing the point. I said I'm speaking Kavakian."

"So, I'm speaking English."

"Think about it."

There was a short silence as Zack thought it through. "… there're the same language?"

"Right."

"That's impossible! How the hell does that happen?"

"The Lost Land is connected to an infinite number of dimensions, which means an infinite number of possibilities. Possibilities such as two languages being completely the same."

"Does that happen a lot?"

"More than you would think. Perhaps the Lost Land likes sucking in people that can talk to each other, if for no other reason than to get them to fight more easily."

All of this sounded highly suspect to Zack. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. His whole face was still sore from the hit he took from the slaver earlier in the day. He really doubted any language barrier would have prevented any of the violence he had witnessed so far. Still, it was better than not being able to communicate with anyone. He would have really been screwed then.

"I'm tired and a little overwhelmed. Is there somewhere I could sleep?"

"Sure, follow me." Xandra got up.

"You're not taking him to the barracks, are you?" The sleg in the lavender clothes asked.

"No, Meakrous. Stop worrying so much." The pair left down a hallway.

"Where are you taking me?"

"A supply closet."

"You're kidding me."

"Nope, this one's empty though." Xandra opened a door and grabbed Zack's arm, forcing him in. "You get a sleeping bag. There's a bathroom down the hall to your right. Don't go wandering around unless you want trouble. The others don't quite trust you yet."

"Why wouldn't they? I'm not trying to cause trouble. And I'm sure you all believe me when I say I'm not from here. I don't have any weapons. What kind of threat could I possibly be?"

"You may not oppose us but you could still be a threat to us." Zack plopped down on his sleeping bag. He couldn't wait to hear the explanation for that remark. "If you're weak and slow us down then you're still a threat to our survival. I hope for your sake you have some skills that will prove useful. Either that or you better be a fast learner. Good night." Xandra shut the door.

Zack took off his shoes and socks and stuffed them in the corner. _This is ridiculous. They're having me sleep in a damn closet? There's barely any room in here._ It seemed unfair that he was stuck in the tiny space when there seemed to be so much room in the bomb shelter overall. He switched off the light and slipped into the sleeping bag. The cold emanating from the hard floor seeped up through the fabric and chilled his bones. Zack wished they had given him a pillow; he ended up trying to sleep on his side and used his hands to elevate his head from the ground.

The silence was not Zack's friend as worries began to creep into his mind regarding his situation. The Last Remnant didn't seem so bad at first; they did save him from a life of slavery. But now Zack worried about how he was going to prove himself useful to the group. He didn't really have any special skills… none they would find useful in a place like the Lost Land anyway. He main hope was that he could find some sort of niche in a non-combat oriented role. Maybe working alongside those worker bots they had. The list of possibilities on his future drifted into darkness as his exhaustion finally overcame his worrying and Zack fell asleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from _Turok: Rage Wars_.

Biobots appeared in _Turok: Rage Wars_. They were the second skin of the Elite character.


	4. Basic Training

**Chapter 4: Basic Training**

A thin line of dull light cut into the darkness. The wall of light quickly widened as the door was opened. The entire enclosure lit up with the flick of a switch, revealing a rather pitiful human curled up in a dark green sleeping bag on the floor.

"Good morning, Mr. Skellington. It is time to wake up." The voice was authoritative and robotic.

Zack opened his eyes to see one of the worker bots standing in the open doorway to his closet. In the confines of the bomb shelter it was impossible to tell what time it was so Zack had to take the robot's word for it. It's not like he had much of a choice anyway. It was entirely possible these people might throw him back out into the junkyard if he didn't do as he was told. In that respect it really wasn't that much different from his old life. He was always taking orders and had his life structured according to the will of others: his bosses at work, the arrangements he had with his roommates, the overall general laws of society. No matter where he ended up it always seemed like someone else was there to tell him what to do. It wouldn't really have bothered Zack all that much if the people in positions of power weren't always assholes.

"Alright, I'm gettin' up." Zack snorted. He was congested and cold. Standing up elicited a few snaps from his spine. His muscles were sore. He did not sleep well at all and intended to talk to Xandra about better sleeping arrangements. His current setup was unacceptable. They could have at least let him sleep on the couch in the rec room.

The bot followed Zack as he went about his morning routine. He figured the robot was there more to watch over him than offer any real assistance. It was easy to navigate the bathroom. The one useful thing the bot did provide was a toothbrush Zack could claim as his very own.

Once he was done in the bathroom Zack was glad the bot was around. The bomb shelter was a labyrinthine maze. He couldn't remember where anything was from the day before, not that he had seen much of the complex anyway. There was no signage or any hint of where anything was. Zack figured the shelter's inhabitants knew the place by memory and made sure any intruders couldn't find their way by identifying signs or posted maps. That was his thought, anyway. A few occasional scorch marks and bullet holes on the walls attested to his theory that the Last Remnant's base had to deal with the occasional invader or two. It was either that or they shot at each other for fun.

When they made it to the kitchen Zack was given a long, clear glass of full of something pink. Zack tried it… it tasted like a fruit smoothie. He doubted that's what it really was but it tasted a lot better than the soup he had been given last night for dinner. As long as it tasted good was all that mattered.

Xandra and the sleg Silvac entered. They didn't get anything to eat or drink. Everyone had eaten breakfast already and Zack was the last to eat.

"Do you have any military training?" Silvac asked.

"No."

"This is going to make things more difficult. Do you at least know how to shoot a gun?"

"Sort of."

"Explain," the sleg demanded.

"My dad and grandfather taught me how to handle firearms when I was younger but it's not a skill I kept up with."

"Ugh, you're killin' me here, Zack," Xandra groaned.

"We'll have to take you down to the shooting range to see what you can do."

"Okay." When Zack finished his meal he followed Xandra and Silvac down a couple floors until they reached a room that was set up as a firing range. Commander ZG-83 and the EV-97 were waiting for them.

"He says he has no military experience but he knows how to pull a trigger," Silvac informed the biobot and the elite. ZG-83 turned and gave Xandra a brief stare before turning to Zack.

"Let's see what you can do with a rifle."

Silvac handed Zack a long-barreled rifle, the same kind he had seen the sleg carry the day before. The sleg pointed the human in the direction of a paper target with the silhouette of a human and was told he could fire when ready. Zack fumbled with the rifle for a moment.

"What are you doing?" Silvac asked.

"Looking for the safety switch."

"It doesn't have one. Shoot the damn gun."

"Oh."

"This is on you," Silvac whispered to Xandra.

"I know." She face-palmed.

The rifle was heavier than it looked and it was too long. Zack had trouble keeping it level from a standing position so he went down into a prone position. The weapon lacked a scope and the banana magazine was inserted on the top of the rifle, so it was slightly in the way when he tried to aim. Zack wondered how anyone was supposed to shoot with this awkward firearm.

He finally managed to line up his shot and fired. He hit south of the head, hitting the human silhouette in the neck. Zack couldn't help but feel a burst of pride. He hadn't fired a gun in ages yet he was able to hit the target with an exotic rifle he had never even seen before yesterday.

"Not bad," Silvac said.

"I knew you could do it." Xandra was rather happy Zack turned out to not be completely worthless.

"You took too long," ZG-83 said, "try shooting from a kneeling position."

Zack got up from the floor and went into a kneeling position and fired again, this time trying to not take so long to aim. He still hit the silhouette, but it was in the body this time.

"Fire from a standing position," the biobot ordered.

Zack did as he was told and this time he missed the target entirely.

"You're going to need to do better than that."

"How's he gonna handle running and gunning if he can't even stand and shoot straight?" Silvac asked.

"Practice," ZG-83 said.

Zack spent the next half hour practicing with the rifle. He was able to hit the silhouette from a standing position but his shooting was nowhere near good enough. Zack knew what his problem was; he was too weak to keep the gun steady from a standing position.

"Alright, that's enough," ZG-83 said. Silvac took the rifle from Zack. "What do you know about melee weapons?"

"Nothing much."

"Since you're not physically adept…" ZG-83 towered over Zack. "I'm going to start you off with a warhammer." The biobot showed the human a large, silver-colored hammer. "It will do most of the work for you. All you have to do is make sure you don't drop it."

Zack spent the next half-hour learning about the futuristic combat hammer. It was capable of being charged up for an extra powerful swing and had a rechargeable battery that would never need to be replaced. Overall it was an incredibly dangerous weapon, but wasn't the best idea to use if your enemies were equipped with guns.

Next Zack was taught about ballistic weaponry by Silvac and Xandra. They went over the basics of pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and miniguns. Zack was only given a basic overview with no hands-on practice.

ZG-83 and EV-97 then taught Zack about energy weapons. More than anything else, these futuristic weapons blew Zack's mind. There was a plasma rifle, the weapon ZG-83 had used on the slavers the day before. There was a radioactive flare gun (Zack was really uncomfortable with a weapon specifically designed to attack with radiation). Zack was shown a freeze gun that was designed to incapacitate enemies without killing them. The two most shocking weapons were the emaciator and the inflator. The emaciator was designed to make the target wither away and decay until they were nothing more than a stick figure that was too weak to survive. The inflator was the opposite; it pumped up a target until it burst. Zack could only guess what sick mind came up with these cruel weapons.

After the energy weapon overview was completed the slegs Venom and Meakrous came in and went over some of the basics of explosive weapons. It was made clear to Zack that he wouldn't be using those anytime soon.

"Enough practice." ZG-83 ended the session. "Real world experience is the best teacher."

"What?" Zack was tired. They hadn't given him and break and had unloaded way too much information on him all at once. He needed time to absorb it all.

"We're going out into the junkyard." ZG-83 handed Zack a warhammer.

"It's only my second day here. Don't you think I should practice just a little more?"

"The Lost Land will not sit still and wait for you to become proficient. We've wasted far too much time already."

They left the shooting range and regrouped with the others at the front door to the bomb shelter. Zack didn't like this one bit. He thought there was a lot more he needed to learn, and not just about firearms. Another thing that bothered him so much was how fast the weapons training had come. It was the first thing they threw at him after breakfast. He hadn't even had lunch yet and they were already ready to march out the door and go to war.

_The Lost Land must be a lot more violent than I'm thinking. I'm going to die here… probably today._ Zack gulped as the doors to the bomb shelter slid open. The two massive attack robots, GR-12 and RR-17, left the bomb shelter first. The loud mechanical whirring of their huge frames announced their presence to the entire junkyard.

Silvac, Meakrous, Venom, and CS-33 stuck together as a group. ZG-83 and EV-97 traveled as a pair. The massive cyborg Zoran Zlatko kept to himself.

"Stay close to me," Xandra whispered to Zack.

"Okay." Zack couldn't recognize the weapon Xandra carried. They hadn't shown it to him during the weapons overview. It was made out of black metal and was dotted with a few glowing green lights. It looked like an energy weapon. Whatever it was, Zack ended up not asking about it.

The entire gang that comprised the Last Remnant (with the exception of the worker bots) had left the bomb shelter.

Zack had no idea where they were going or what they were supposed to do. No one had told him anything, though he suspected they did that on purpose. He wasn't exactly a real member of the group and they obviously didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on. Zack just hoped they wouldn't come across any enemies.

* * *

Hours went by as they traversed the junkyard. Zack was starting to get bored. At first fear had gripped his heart. He thought they were going to be marching into battle within the first few minutes of leaving the safety of the bomb shelter. The slavers had caught him right after he exited out of the portal. He figured today would have hit as fast and hard as the previous day had… he turned out to be wrong. There was no great battle, nothing came out to attack them.

Zack was starting to get really hungry. He didn't know what time it was but his stomach was telling him that he had missed lunch hours ago.

"When do we eat?" Zack asked.

"When we get back, shush," Xandra quieted him.

Zack's stomach growled as he looked on at his surroundings. The junkyard was devoid of animals; there weren't even any birds in the sky. A casual glance and one might think no organic life could possibly be found amidst the ruins and refuse of countless dimensions. But if one were to stop and observe the area around them, they would find it was anything but barren.

Hordes of tiny insects and arachnids scurried over, under and around the garbage that littered the ground. Over time Zack started to become aware of just how alive the junkyard really was. There was nothing grand or fantastical about the bugs, they paled in comparison to the group of beings Zack was traveling with. But Zack couldn't help thinking that at least some of the bugs he saw were venomous. And considering the Last Remnant's primitive way of dealing with lice and fleas, Zack worried that if he were stung or bitten by a venomous bug the Last Remnant might not have any medicine that could help him—why would they even keep any around? Half the group were robots or constructs and for all Zack knew the cyborgs and slegs could very well be immune to any venom. That left Zack on his own. He was nothing more than a poor, generic human being who might very well die a horrible death from a simple bug bite.

But there were other things lurking in the junkyard, roaming groups of slavers, for one thing. The slavers had been armed, and so was the Last Remnant. Zack knew there was definitely something dangerous lurking about and he doubted he would be able to kill it with his warhammer.

A rumbling behind one of the scrap piles indicated that there was indeed something around other than a bunch of tiny insects. A frog-like being ambled around the pile of scrap and growled at them.

It was a large creature roughly the size of a truck. It had massive arms and stubby legs, forcing it to walk on all fours in a manner similar to a gorilla. Its shoulders and forearms were covered in bony spikes. Its eyes gave off a terrible green glow that in no way seemed natural.

"What is that thing?"

"Mummite," Venom said.

This was different from before. The slavers were hostile but they were human. The most intimating beings Zack had seen were on his side. But now he saw that there really were hostile monsters that would kill him if given the chance.

"I'll take care of this." Zoran Zlatko charged forward with astonishing speed. Zack couldn't believe how fast the overweight cyborg was. Zlatko's skinny legs didn't even look like they could hold him upright, yet he moved with astonishing speed.

Zlatko was upon the mummite in seconds, the green monster tried to swipe at the cyborg with a large paw—only to have to effortlessly knocked away by one of the cyborg's massive metal arms. Zlatko followed up with a strike of his own. His gargantuan metal fist smashed straight into the mummite's face, breaking teeth, fracturing its jaw, and sending it stumbling backward in a daze. Zlatko then brought up his other arm and smashed it down on the thing's head. It was a bloody mess of skin and broken bones. The pulpy mess that was once the mummite's head had been cut clear of the body—that was ambling about unaware that its head had been crushed. A few more seconds of stumbling around and the headless body fell down with a great thump.

Zack Skellington was dumbfounded by the vicious display; he had never seen anything like what had just happened. Zlatko had been casual about the entire act; he looked like he even enjoyed it. The mummite never stood a chance. Zack had no clue how Zlatko wasn't already king of the Lost Land.

"Impressive, no?" Xandra asked Zack.

"Very. He killed that thing like it was nothing." Zack's voice was quiet; as if he was afraid Zlatko would turn around and come after him if he were too noisy.

"Just another walk in the junkyard."

"Are there worse things out there?"

"Worse than mummites? Oh yeah. There are much worse things…"

"I might have a problem. I wouldn't be able to fight a mummite, let alone something worse."

"Don't worry about it. That's just Zoran. Nobody can beat him. We don't expect you to be able to kill a mummite on your own. That's why he killed it."

"Right."

Silvac scouted out ahead. "It's over there." The sleg pointed.

"What's up ahead? What are we doing, exactly?" Zack asked.

"You'll see when we get there," Meakrous said.

"Do _you_ guys even know what you're doing?"

"Uhhh… sorta." The sleg fiddle with his blaster rifle.

The rest of the group caught up to Silvac. Before them was a massive metal structure five stories tall. It was made out of some sort of pristine grey metal. It looked a lot nicer than most of the things Zack had seen lying around the junkyard thus far. It even looked nicer than the exterior of the bomb shelter the Last Remnant called home. Though there was something else peculiar about the building—it looked like it had been dropped right out of the sky. There was crushed scrap sticking out from beneath it.

"This is what we are here for," ZG-83 announced. "Silvac discovered this structure a few days while on a scouting mission. We're here to find out what's inside."

"I think someone beat us to it," EV-97 pointed at a gaping hole in the wall large enough to let a truck pass. It looked like someone had decided to create their own entrance with a missile launcher.

"CS-33, go check it out."

"Yes, Commander." The cyborg left the group to investigate the hole.

"Why didn't you check out the interior when you first found it?" Zack asked.

"It's locked up tight and I didn't have the firepower at the time to blow it open," Silvac answered.

"That's what I was here for," Zoran Zlatko said.

"You were gonna smash through that metal wall? You can do that?"

"Of course."

"The bunker is empty." CS-33 left the building and returned to the group. "Whatever was in there is gone now. Or the building could have been empty when it arrived in the Lost Land."

Everyone went down to see for themselves. It wasn't that they didn't believe the slender cyborg, the slegs were just didn't want to have come out all this way to not even see the inside with their own eyes. The robots, cyborgs and constructs followed only to keep the group together.

The whole structure was indeed empty. The interior was one big room with a few ladders and catwalks. It did look like it was used for storage. Whatever had been in there must have been useful enough that it was all taken. They left the dark building for the dusty air outside.

"What a waste. We came all this way for nothing," Meakrous whined, "how are we ever going to win when we can barely keep the bomb shelter up and running."

"It's always one step forward and three steps back," Silvac said.

"It hasn't been a total loss," Xandra said, "we do have a new member."

"That has yet to be decided," ZG-83 warned the cyborg.

"Hey, he didn't die on the way over here. What more do you want?"

"I didn't really do anything," Zack spoke up. They all turned to look at the human.

"At least he's honest." Zlatko flexed one of his metal arms.

"He didn't die, that's _something_," Xandra said.

"He might on the way back," Venom said. "Look," the sleg sniper pointed.

In a clearing not far away there were four mummites. The monstrous frog-creatures growled and started making their way over. They had definitely spotted the group.

"I guess they miss their buddy." Silvac shot at the mummite furthest on the right. The gunshot signaled the creatures to begin their charge.

The mummites were fast, not as fast as Zlatko but still way faster than their size should have allowed.

ZG-83 fired his plasma rifle, hitting one of the mummites in the eye. The creature staggered back and howled in pain. EV-97 brought up his large, blunt, beige weapon—a radioactive flare gun. The gun charged for a moment and let loose a blinding violet ball of radioactive death that struck right near the wounded monster. The mummite couldn't focus enough to flee from the radioactive flare and soon collapsed. Its corpse slowly started to melt away as the purple light continued to burn.

The two attack robots GR-12 and RR-17 fired their weapon arms, revealing them to be machine guns. The remaining three mummites were hit with a hail of bullets but didn't go down. GR-12 then made a robotic sound and fired a rocket from his gun-arm. The projectile flew in a gentle spiral and impacted on the center mummite, ending its life in an orange haze.

The trio of slegs focused their fire on a single mummite, with Xandra joining in with her weird weapon. When she fired, green rings shot out from her black firearm. When the rings of plasma hit the mummite, they detonated in an explosion that took the form of a neat green sphere. Zack remembered that was one of the weapons going off when the slavers had been ambushed. The mummite finally succumbed to the combined firepower. The final mummite had its skull crushed by Zlatko just as the one earlier had.

The area reeked of blood and explosives. Yet again Zack found he hadn't had to do any fighting.

"I might be more help if I had a ranged weapon," Zack offered. He didn't really want to be part of the fighting but he wasn't making himself useful. He figured if he just kept standing around all the time every time an enemy showed up, the Last Remnant might just decide to leave his sorry ass behind.

"You did fine." Xandra patted him on the shoulder. "You didn't run into our line of fire. You'd be surprised how many people will do that."

"Anyone that does that must be a real moron."

"We're leaving," ZG-83 said. The two attack robots led the way with the rest following.

"Hey, Xandra."

"What is it, Zack?"

"That weapon you use, where did you get it? It wasn't one of the weapons you guys showed me earlier. I've never seen anything like it."

"It's not from my home dimension, I'll tell you that. I got it off some dead alien. Don't really know where it's from. I just call it the alien weapon."

"Alien? As in from outer space alien?"

"I don't really know. There's a few of 'em around. Probably they're from another dimension though. I'm not really sure. Does it really matter?"

"No, I was just curious."

"You humans always are," Venom said.

"So are the aliens hostile?"

"Huh?" Xandra didn't follow Zack's line of thinking.

"The ones that use that weapon you have. Are they our enemies?"

"We don't see them too much anymore. I didn't kill one, I just looted a corpse I came across."

"The aliens you refer to used to work for the Campaigner," CS-33 said, "they suffered heavy losses. They have little power left. They would most likely join us rather than fight us… if there are any even left."

With the mummites dead the trek back to the bomb shelter was just as boring as the journey from the bomb shelter. The sun had begun to set by the time the reached their base.

* * *

Zack found he stank and despite not having an extra set of clothes, he allowed the worker bots to take his to be washed. He'd never get to sleep if he was stuck in the ripe-smelling clothes. While the bots cleaned his clothes Zack took an extra long shower. Soon Zack had his clothes again and was led to the mess hall. Other than the fighting and weirdness of the Lost Land, Zack's new life wasn't completely horrible. The worker robots took care of the more mundane servile tasks and made life in the bomb shelter look like a utopian fantasy. Life was simple when robots did most of the work.

What was served for dinner came as a surprise to Zack, not because he was served some fantastical creature but because it was normal and mundane (to him at least). Those that required food ate chicken for dinner. Zack was expecting some sort of soup or smoothie but it was nice to eat solid food again. The food was served with some sort of beverage that tasted like grape soda to Zack.

Unlike during breakfast, Zack now ate in the bomb shelter's small mess hall rather than by himself in the kitchen.

"So, how'd you guys start up?" Zack asked as they ate.

"Didn't we go over this already?" Venom asked.

"I was wondering if you guys could be more specific."

"Right…" Xandra thought for a second as she chewed on a chicken leg. "So you know Dr. Zoid—what did you call him again?"

"Dr. Zoidberg?"

"Yeah, that. That was pretty funny, Zack. So anyway, Dr. Zoidberg—"

"The commander wouldn't appreciate you callin' him that, Xandra," Silvac said.

"Well he ain't here right now, is he? Anyway, Dr. Z is our boss and founder. He and EV-97 used to be slaves of an advanced alien known as the Primagen. The Primagen tried to conquer the Lost Land, much in the same way the Campaigner tried before him. The results were the same. The Primagen ended up dead and his armies were thrown into disarray. Now, the Primagen had a bunch of different factions working under him but the bio-bots were actually the Primagen's property. They came with him on his Lightship. When the Primagen died, all the bio-bots had their pre-programmed berserker program activated. Basically they went on a bloody rampage destroying all life that they found, a last act of revenge by the Primagen. The problem is the bio-bots are constructs, not pure robots, so their programming isn't absolute. When everyone fights back against you, it's kind of hard to wage a full genocide against all living things in the Lost Land. Eventually the bio-bots became too few. That's when ZG-83 broke from his primary programming and decided that survival was his first goal. You know, live another day to fight later."

"The goal of the Last Remnant is to kill everybody?" Zack didn't want to be part of genocide. He suddenly felt like he had fallen in with the wrong crowd.

"No, just certain groups. We're not monsters. But back to the story. So, it was hard for ZG-83 and EV-97 to find any allies. Who would work with a group that tried to kill everyone and everything, after all? So they started picking through the junkyards to make some allies. That's when they found and fixed up those two big bruisers GR-12 and RR-17."

"How did you join, Xandra?"

"They didn't shoot at me when they saw me."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Tons of people take shots at me based solely off my appearance. Cyborgs aren't too popular in the Lost Land, I guess. The rest of us joined up basically because no one else will take us."

"You make us sound like a bunch of rejects," Meakrous said.

"We _are_ a bunch of rejects, Meakrous." Xandra learned in closer to the sleg.

"Just how many meals a day do you guys typically eat?" Zack asked once he was finished eating.

"Two. Three if things are going well," Xandra said. "Why? What are you used to?"

"I normally eat three meals a day."

"It doesn't look like we'll be eatin' that good for a while." Zack couldn't believe it, especially considering Zlatko's immense size. He would have thought they were following the eating schedule of hobbits rather than the bare bones two-meal-a-day plan. Zack had skipped meals plenty of times back in his home dimension, he was sure he could adapt as long as two meals a day wasn't going to be a permanent trend.

"So, am I going back to the closet again?"

"For now, yes," Zlatko said. "You done eating?"

"Yeah, I'm done." Zack didn't want to be stuck in that miserable closet again but there was no way in hell he was going to complain about it to someone like Zlatko.

"Come on, I'll take you there." The huge man got up from the table.

"Okay." Zack followed him out of the mess hall. Zack still had no idea how to get around the innards of the bomb shelter, but at least the members of the Last Remnant acknowledged that fact. The place was a maze and Zack could spend half the night trying to find his closet if he were on his own.

When they were far enough from the hearing range of the others Zlatko turned around to Zack. "Look, Skellington, we need to talk."

Zack did not like the sound of that at all. Zlatko was the last person he wanted to piss off. The massive cyborg could easily crush him with one hand. "What can I do for you?"

"We don't normally take in people of your skill level. The only reason you're here with us is because Xandra wants you. It is in your best interest to keep her as happy as possible. I recommend you pay her a late-night visit no later than tomorrow night if you want to stay on her good side. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah… I get it."

"Good. At least you're not stupid. If you learn to shoot straight you might actually have a future here."

"I'll try my best. I didn't actually get a lot of practice today. I'm sure I'll improve with time."

"Indeed. Either that or you'll die." They arrived at the door to Zack's closet. "Good night, Mr. Skellington."

"Goodnight." _I hope it will be a good night,_ Zack thought. But since he was sleeping on the floor again Zack doubted his night would be all that good. Considering what Zlatko had told him Zack figured his next night would be much better.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from _Turok: Rage Wars_.

Silvac, Meakrous and Venom appeared as multiplayer characters in _Turok: Evolution_. Silvac is the sleg scout, Meakrous is the sleg worker and Venom is the sleg sniper.

Mummites appeared in _Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion_.


	5. Fallout

**Chapter 5: Fallout**

Zack Skellington once more awoke to congestion and a sore back. He was really getting sick and tired of having to sleep in a supply closet. It was ridiculous. There was no harm in him sleeping somewhere else. He was no threat to anyone in the Last Remnant; everyone knew just how pathetic he was when they saw him practice shooting yesterday. Zack wasn't going to complain though, he knew tonight was going to be much different. He went through the daily morning routine just like he had the day before, there was even one of the worker bots following him around just like last time.

_Bah, the Lost Land isn't so scary. I've already fallen into a routine!_ Zack thought as he followed the worker bot to the mess hall. Despite the danger that lurked outside the walls of the bomb shelter Zack found it easy to accept his new life. How could one not like having robot servants? And Zack didn't exactly miss anyone from his old life… he did miss the internet though. Zack made a mental note to ask if they had the internet in the Lost Land. He was sure they must have some sort of version of it, they had robots for crying out loud—real robots, not some mobile automated vacuum cleaners. It would certainly be a surprise if this place had robots but _no_ internet.

Once more Zack was served a pink smoothie-like substance though this time he was confident enough to ask for seconds… and then thirds. He was plenty hungry after only eating two meals yesterday and Zack was going to eat as much as he could for breakfast until he was either satisfied or they cut him off. After his fourth drink Zack's hunger was satiated. He was surprised the bot hadn't told him no at some point.

Finishing breakfast, Zack wondered what was on the schedule for today. He had been thrown into weapons training yesterday and felt that everything had gone way too fast. He needed much more practice (that was less rushed) if he was going to retain anything. Zack wasn't sure where the bot was leading him after they left the mess hall but he figured it was the firing range again.

The pair saw the Meakrous as they walked down the hall. The sleg was down on one knee, facing an open panel in the wall. His scaly hands gripped a large rusty wrench to fix some problem… Zack couldn't exactly see what. It was too dark and Meakrous was in the way. It didn't really matter to Zack, though he was curious as to why Meakrous was doing menial repairs, he thought that was the purview of the worker bots.

"Hey Meakrous, what do you think—" A loud noise cut Zack off and the floor rumbled as if they were suddenly hit by an earthquake. It sounded like an explosion. The lighting flickered for a moment before remaining on.

"What was that?" Zack asked.

"Come on." The sleg got up off the floor and ran down the hall with the human and bot in tow. They soon came across Xandra.

"What's going on?" Meakrous demanded.

"The infestoids!" Xandra's face was warped with anxiety. Her cybernetic eye glowed brighter than before, as if someone had lit it on fire. Zack had never seen her like this before.

"So? What the hell are you worried about?"

"They have a tank! They just blew up the front door!"

Meakrous' jaw hung open. "Where'd those slimeballs get a working tank?"

"As if I fuckin' know!"

Silvac appeared from around the corner. "I have a guess. They took it from that empty bunker!"

Xandra kicked at the wall in frustration. "Arrgh! This is your fault!" She pointed a robotic finger accusingly at Zack. "We would'a gotten there sooner if we didn't have to teach your sorry ass the basics!"

Her words stung. Xandra had been so nice until now. "If opening that thing was so important why didn't you guys leave me here and go there without me?"

"What, and leave you at the base alone? Do you think we're stupid?" Meakrous said.

"You all know I can't fight. What the hell would I do to your precious base?"

"Reprogram the worker bots to do your bidding," Xandra hissed.

"He's not smart enough to do that," Silvac said.

"Wait a minute." Zack thought a moment. "The hole in the bunker wall was too small for a tank to get through. This isn't my fault. Their tank didn't come from there."

"They could have gotten it through the main bunker doors!" Xandra snapped.

"They bunker doors were closed when we got there."

"Then maybe they closed them before they left!"

"Now you're just trying to blame this on me!" Zack did not like arguing with Xandra but he wasn't about to take the fall when it clearly wasn't his fault.

"We can argue later," Silvac said, "we have to deal with the infestoids. Now."

"What's an infestoid?" Zack asked.

"No time for stupid questions!" Xandra snapped. They took off as a group. Zack stayed in the back. Not only did he not know where they were going, but he didn't want to be first in line if they ran across an enemy.

As they passed by an intersection something smashed into the group from the side. Xandra, Meakrous, Silvac, and the bot were knocked over. Zack was far enough back that he didn't take a tumble like everyone else.

There were failing limbs and flying curses as everyone tried to get up, but one individual stood tall before the others. It had two heads… two heads! Its eyes glowed lime green and its mouths were agape in a combined expression of anger and pain. Its pale skin had a light green tint to it. Its legs bent backwards at the knees. The dual heads roared as the horrific being aimed some sort of gun at Zack.

Zack had nothing to attack with. He turned around and ran as fast as he could. He heard some sort of gooey noise, as if someone was blowing their nose, but he felt nothing. Whatever the infestoid tried to shoot Zack with had missed. He kept going and rounded a corner. Even when he could no longer be shot at the human kept running.

Zack could hear GR-12's and RR-17's machine guns echo through the halls, as well as the sounds of the muttering infestoids. The bomb shelter was normally nearly odorless but now a heavy stench of soggy garbage hung in the air so strongly Zack could taste it on his tongue. Zack nearly tripped as he starting going down an incline. He was so busy looking out for enemies had hadn't even noticed where he was running. It didn't matter much as Zack was thoroughly lost and had no idea where he was going. He kept moving in the hope that eventually he'd run into a random weapons locker or make his way to the firing range. As long as he kept moving he figured the infestoids wouldn't corner him.

An infestoid appeared around the corner right in from of Zack. He nearly tripped and fell over as he came to a stop. The horrible two-headed creature raised an odd looking gun and pulled the trigger. A stream of green goo shot through the air and hit the wall, missing Zack. The green substance smelled horrible. Zack ran back the way he came and when he reached an intersection yet another infestoid appeared to block his path. This time he ran right for the mutant biped, shoving his way past and round the corner.

Zack ran down another ramp. The floor had changed to a grating instead of being solid. Zack stopped short—yet another infestoid blocked his path. The infestoid fired his goo gun and missed. The goo hit the grating and slowly started to sizzle. If Zack had anything going for him it was the fact these guys couldn't shoot for shit.

He turned around to see the other one he shoved past had caught up to him. This one had a large, blunt, beige weapon. Zack recognized it, it was one of the weapons he had learned about the day before, and it was also the weapon EV-97 used. It was a radioactive flare gun. The infestoid fired once. Zack dodge the green ball of radiation and it hit the infestoid behind him. The infestoid charged his flare gun. Once the gun was ready, he fired again—only this time a massive violet ball hurled over towards Zack.

He backed up and threw up his arms to cover his face. The light was blinding. The radiation blast came up short but Zack could still feel it cook him. He tried to get away but the other infestoid on the opposite side was still alive despite being hit by his friend and blocked Zack's only route of escape.

It was only a couple of seconds but it felt like an eternity. Zack's goose was cooked; there was nothing he could do. The goo on the grating had finally eaten through, causing the grate to collapse. Zack fell down into the sewer system. He landed hard into a shallow stream of sludge.

Zack let out a groan. The fall hurt, certainly but it was better than being cooked to death by the radioactive death ball. It hurt to move but Zack got up and started to walk. This was his chance to get away.

Unfortunately he didn't get very far. The violet radiation blast died out and the two infestoids dropped down into the sewer to finish off the human. The pair of mutants easily caught up and shoved the human down into the muck.

Zack turned around and looked up at his killers. His eyes widened—not because he was going to die but because there was something worse _behind_ the two infestoids.

A pair of lanky limbs hung in the air, claws at the ends. The claws seized the infestoid with the radiation gun and cut it in half. The other infestoid turned around and backed up a few paces.

Zack's savoir was a gigantic crab. A crusty brown body covered in barnacles connected two long, puke-green limbs that ended in large claws that had ripped the infestoid to shreds as if it were a soggy garbage bag. The remaining infestoid cursed and fired his gun, but the green goo didn't seem to bother the giant crab in the slightest. Zack ran as the huge crab killed the remaining infestoid.

It wasn't easy running through sludge but Zack did it anyway. He didn't have any choice. He didn't want to die. He spared a second (and some speed) to look back and he saw that the crab was chasing after him now. It was completely silent as it effortlessly glided through the muck. It didn't even look like it had any legs, as if it were designed to glide over sludge.

Zack pumped his legs harder. The giant claws snapped… foretelling the gruesome fate that awaited the human once he was caught.

The snapping was slowly getting closer. It was the only indicator of how far behind the crab was, since it didn't make any noise as it slid over the muck. Zack dare not look back again.

Up ahead was a fence. Zack could make out a pole with hinges, so there was a door. He just hoped it wasn't locked. He was lucky there was way through at all and when he smashed against the metal mesh, the door swung open. He quickly shut it and kept running. The crab cut through the gate like a knife through cheese.

It was ludicrous to think he could keep running for much longer but Zack saw no other option. There was plenty of trash floating along in the stream of sludge but nothing he could use as a weapon. And unless he happened to find a rocket launcher lying around he doubted anything would kill the massive crab.

Something did manage to grab Zack's eye, though it wasn't a weapon. On his left was a circular entrance to another sewer tunnel. Large vertical iron bars prevented access but Zack noticed that they were cut near the bottom. Zack wasn't sure if he could fit under or not but he didn't think it over. He couldn't keep running like he was, he knew he would tire out before the crab did.

He ran for the bars and got on his stomach. He crawled along, coating himself in the foul sludge. The bottom of the cut bars stabbed at Zack as he shoved his way under. He made it across just as the crab reached the bars. Zack got to his feet and looked back, the crab was already trying to cut the bars, but unlike the fencing, the bars were holding—for now. Zack ran.

Zack ran as long as he could until he couldn't run anymore. He was exhausted. It was no use. Despite the terror and the strong desire not to die he just couldn't run on willpower alone. The grim reality was his muscles wouldn't allow it. Zack looked back, he expected to see the sludge crab approached but it wasn't there.

_Maybe it gave up back at the bars?_ Zack wondered. _Maybe it's still trying to cut through them? Maybe it knows a way around?_

Whatever the giant crab was doing Zack continued on at a leisurely walk. He had no idea where he was. He didn't know his way around the bomb shelter let alone the sewer system below it. It's not like he could go back anyway. He figured the infestoids had overrun the place. Plus the grating he had fallen through had created an open passageway between the bomb shelter and the sewers. For all Zack knew that meant that giant crab or any of its friends could get in and kill whoever was left in the bomb shelter.

The tunnel slowly started to get brighter. Zack's vision went from a dingy dark brown to a vomit green. There were several large rats chewing on various scrapes of garbage. Their eyes glowed red… that wasn't natural. While creepy, the rats left the human alone. Zack even passed by a few giant roaches about the size of his foot. These were a lot bigger than the bugs he had seen crawling around on the surface of the junkyard and he wondered just how big bugs could grow in the Lost Land. He hoped not too much bigger, the foot-sized roaches were vile enough already.

"Fuck," Zack said aloud. There was no one to talk to but hearing the sound of his own voice was somewhat calming, as if he were reminding himself that he wasn't dead yet. "That crab was huge. There are probably bugs as big as it is." Zack had meant to ask the Last Remnant more about the creatures and inhabitants of the Lost Land. It was too late for that now. Though knowing more likely wouldn't help him any, he was a dead man whether he knew what awaited or not.

His arms were sore and itchy. He had been way too close to that radioactive ball of energy. Another few seconds and he would have died. The grating giving way had saved his life. Only now did Zack have the time to think and realize just how lucky he was.

A weird noise echoed through the tunnel. It sounded like someone trying to suck the last bit of a milkshake through a straw. Then Zack saw what was making the noise… and it lay directly in his path.

It was a large green grub the size of a dog. It had a circular maw full of sharp teeth and a proboscis darted in and out as it oozed forward in his direction. Zack couldn't turn around, that would eventually lead him back to the bars… and the giant crab. There was no side passage he could take. That left forward as the only option. The grub didn't seem very fast. Trying to avoid it was certainly better than going back in the direction of the crab.

Zack had regained a good deal of his energy. The grub continued to make its disgusting noises as it slithered its way closer. Zack broke into a run, hugging the wall to his left as close as he could. He ran right by the grub. The creature was too slow to even make a lunge at him. It did turn around and start to pursue him. Zack continued to run. It was easy to lose the grub in comparison to the crab.

The shallow stream of sludge became thinner and easier to walk through. It was more water now than mud. The sound of running water caught Zack's attention and eventually he came across a crack in the ceiling that was leaking a steady downpour of water… at least Zack hoped it was water. He didn't have any choice; he had to walk through it if he wanted to continue. As he did it certainly felt like water so Zack opted to pause for a second and tried to scrub off as much of the muck and grim from his clothes as he could. He got a good deal of gunk off, but didn't dawdle too long for fear of allowing the grub to catch up.

Soon the hue of the tunnel changed again. Instead of green it had turned yellow and up ahead Zack saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Zack looked back towards the darkness. He could barely hear the sounds of the grub anymore but it still sounded like it was chasing after him.

He started running again, excited to have found a way out of the sewer. He was sick and tired of the smell. He considered himself lucky. He could have been lost wandering the sewer tunnels forever—or at least until the giant grubs or crabs cornered him.

In his blind excitement Zack neglected to slow down and tumbled out of the sewer pipe onto the hard, rocky ground. He let out a groan and clutched at his back. He felt like his spine had been trampled on by an elephant.

The human's grunts of discomfort were suddenly silenced as he looked on to what was just ahead of him. He saw his death. Sharp teeth and claws were melded to a slender, scaly frame. A large sickle claw was connected to each foot of the creature. A being of ferocious death that almost looked like it was ripped right out of _Jurassic Park_.

The velociraptor stared at Zack. He had nothing: no weapon, no means of escape, no energy and no idea how he could possibly get out of this situation alive.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from _Turok: Rage Wars_.

The infestoids appeared in _Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion_.

Sludge beasts (the giant crab) appeared in the final level of _Turok: Dinosaur Hunter_.

The grubs appeared in _Turok 2: Seeds of Evil_. They only appear at the boss fight in the Lair of the Blind Ones level.


	6. Out of the Junkyard

**Chapter 6: Out of the Junkyard**

"Please don't eat me…" Zack had no idea what to do. He couldn't see any way out of this situation. Fear made him feel like someone had knifed him in the stomach. He resorting to begging to a dinosaur that in no way could understand him…

"Why is it you humans always go straight to the fear of being eaten? All you ever do is come looking for a fight."

"Hey, I'm not looking for a fight!" Zack blurted out a response before thinking about what had just occurred. A voice… a female voice, had just come out of the toothy maw of the raptor in front of him.

The raptor stared at the human. Both had their jaws hanging open in utter disbelief. "You… you can understand me?" The raptor leaned her head in closer.

"You can talk?" Zack pulled back. Still being on the ground he didn't move very far.

"Of course I can talk! You can listen?!"

"Yes! Yes!" Zack was about to beg the raptor not to eat him again but remembered what she had said and shut up about it. If he wanted to get out of this alive he knew the last thing he wanted to do was piss her off.

"This is amazing!" The raptor got right up in the human's face. "Your kind can never understand us!" Her hot breath on his face made Zack's toes curl.

"Uhhh… I understand you just fine." The raptor's razor-sharp teeth were a little too close for the human's comfort.

"That's why this is amazing!" She started to sniff at him. Zack finally found the courage to stand on his feet. Getting up he realized they were roughly the same height, maybe she was a little taller, it was hard to tell as her head bobbed up and down as she sniffed at him.

He took a step back but then the raptor immediately ran around behind him. Zack turned and tried to keep facing the raptor but she kept circling around him.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get a good look at you!"

"Why?"

"To make sure you're really human of course! Humans are always violent towards us."

Zack decided to just stand still and let her size him up. It wasn't like he could really do anything to stop her. While she examined him, he tried to get a good look at her. She had dull lavender scales with black stripes. Her eyes were a deep violet. The claws on her hands and feet were black. It was not exactly a color scheme Zack would have guessed for a dinosaur.

"I am a human. But… what exactly are you? A velociraptor or something?"

"Of course I'm a velociraptor! What else would I be?" She finally stopped circling him and backed up a few paces—though they were still way too close for Zack's comfort.

"I thought velociraptors were more or less a meter tall… and had feathers." Zack tried his best to put his hand about a meter from the ground.

The raptor broke into a chuckle. "What makes you say that?"

"That's what the humans where I'm from thought you look like."

She still kept laughing. "We do not have feathers. And we are only that small when we are young. You're a funny human. How is it you've never seen a raptor before?"

"I'm originally from somewhere else. I've only been in the Lost Land for a few days."

"A foreigner, huh?" She cocked her head to one side. "Why haven't you seen any raptors where you're from?"

"They're all extinct where I come from."

"Then why do you think we are so small and have feathers?"

"From old fossils. And scientists making educated guesses… I guess."

"Scientists." The raptor's voice had suddenly turned sour.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing." The raptor's killing claws clicked against the crusty dirt of the ground.

Zack figured he had hit a sore spot… but why would the raptor suddenly been bristled at the mention of scientists? Another question that instantly came to mind was how she even knew of scientists. _She must be extremely intelligent, more than I'm giving her credit for_, Zack thought. He had to remember that he was _speaking_ to a velociraptor. _Just what all does she know?_

"Hey…"

"What?"

"Let's change the topic. My name is Zack Skellington. What's your name?"

"I'm Zara. Nice to meet you, Zack Skellington."

"You can just call me Zack."

"So, Zack. What were you doing over in the junkyard? You live in there?"

"Not really."

"Oh?"

"Like I said, I'm from somewhere else. But this nice group of people took me in. I didn't get to know them very long. We were—"

"Attacked?" Zara finished his sentence.

"Yeah…" Zack spoke softly. "How did you know?"

"You have the stench of a sludge beast on you."

"I was chased by a giant crab thing if that's what you mean."

"Yep. That'd be a sludge beast. The sludge beasts don't often leave the junkyard but we should get moving just in case." Zara turned and started walking away from the sewer pipe. Zack quickly followed behind her.

"I lost the sludge beast a while back. But there was a giant green grub chasing after me last time I checked."

"Oh… _those_. They're much easier to avoid. As long as we don't stop to take a nap we should be safe."

He had been so fixated on talking with the velociraptor that Zack hadn't paid any attention to his new surroundings since he fell out of the sewer pipe. It was clear that they were on the outskirts of the junkyard. There was still the occasional junk lying around but it was few and far between and not piled up in great heaps. The ground was covered in crusty pale brown dirt. There were no grasses or low-lying plants anywhere. The few trees in the area were black and leafless, their spindly branches curled upwards as if they were attempting to stab out the harsh sun. Large gray boulders dotted the landscape. The whole area looked desolate and depressing, worse than the interior of the junkyard, for the junkyard at least had many interesting things to look at. This place had looked like an atom bomb had gone off. For some odd reason Zack found the area oddly beautiful in its own way.

Zack's arms were itchy. When he checked he saw that his forearms were red and his arm hair had been burnt off—effects from when he threw up his arms to shield his face from the radiation blast that nearly killed him. He hoped the irritation and discoloration would subside over time.

"How are you liken' the Lost Land so far?" As soon as she had asked Zara knew that question was a bad one. Of course he didn't like the Lost Land, he had just told her he had escaped the destruction of his adopted pack and nest. She just couldn't help herself. It was too late to take it back now though.

"I'd like it better if everything wasn't trying to kill me."

Zara couldn't believe he answered so casually. He must not have been that upset… either that or he got over loss easily. "I didn't try to kill you."

"Sorry, I didn't mean you."

Zack wondered about this raptor, Zara. He had a great many questions but one thing stood out over all the others. "Um… I don't exactly have a place to stay anymore. I was wondering if—"

"Sure, you can come with me," Zara answered before Zack could even finish asking the question. She turned her head back to look at him. "You enjoying the view back there? Come up here." She gently motioned with her claw where she wanted him to be.

Zack trotted up and walked next to her. "Thanks. I don't really know anyone else here. There were all back at the base that was attacked—"

"You don't have to talk about it. It must be difficult to lose your pack and nest. Though I guess if you're a newcomer they didn't mean that much to you. How much did they mean to you? It's hard to tell with you humans. Some humans seem to care for each other and some treat each other horribly." Zara decided to be direct and learn just how social this human really was. If he wasn't… it probably wasn't a good idea to bring him home. Velociraptors were social beings by nature and an anti-social human would definitely not fit in. That wasn't to say a social human could fit in either but at least he might have a chance that way.

"I didn't really get to know them very well. But I wish they were still around. They had saved me from a pack of slavers that had caught me when I first arrived here."

"Slavers caught you?"

"As soon as I arrived through the portal. I didn't have much of a chance. They were all human too, by the look of them. The group that rescued me was made of cyborgs, robots, constructs, and slegs. I was the only pure human of the group. I don't really know how the different species get along here in the Lost Land. I wasn't around long enough to learn."

Zara was confused and a little shocked. This human was indeed weird. "You're saying you don't like other humans?"

"No. I'm not saying that. I haven't exactly met any nice humans here yet. I'm wondering about species loyalty. Do humans congregate with humans? What do the raptors do? The group I was with was mixed but I don't know if that is the norm or not."

"That depends." Zara turned away from Zack to check out her surroundings. She didn't smell any danger but she knew she always had to be alert and aware of her surroundings, especially on the outskirts of the junkyard. "Most species stick to their own kind… or if they can't do that they associate with those similar to them. From what you told me it sounds like you were taken in by one of the junkyard robot gangs. Why do you ask?"

"Just trying to survive. If raptors only associate with other raptors than I might be in trouble."

"You're fine. I didn't kill you."

"What if we run into other raptors?"

"You'll be fine as long as you're with me."

The pair momentarily separated as they walked around opposite sides of a train car randomly lying in their path. There were no train tracks anywhere nearby, indicating the train car had been pulled in from another dimension.

"Hey, can we stop and check out what's inside?" Zack asked when they reunited at the far end of the car.

Zara sniffed at the train car for a moment, she didn't smell any enemies lurking inside. "Sure."

Zack had to fight against the rust for a second but eventually he was able to slide the car door open. "No way!" The human disappeared into the shadowy depths of the train car.

"What is it?" Zara bolted forward, her violet eyes trying to get a look at whatever drew the human's attention.

"There's candy in this train! Look, gummy worms!"

"Ehhh… gummy worms?"

"Yeah. There're really good." He broke open the top of the bag and started eating a few florescent, clear, worm-like bugs. Zara felt her stomach twist. "Want some?" He held out a yellow and green worm. Zara took a sniff and pulled back. It wasn't a real worm, that much she could tell. It was one of the artificial human foods the humans manufactured for themselves.

"No thanks."

"More for me." He ate the worm. "I'll have to remember this train car. I may need to come back here for food." Zack slid the car door shut again. He considered himself lucky to find some food he recognized, and it wasn't even stale! Though he wasn't sure if gummy worms could go stale. It probably took a while as long as they were sealed, which they were.

"Have you been in many battles?" Zara asked as they continued on.

"A few. But I didn't really do any fighting. The others did that for me."

"Can you fight?"

"Not very well. Don't worry, I'm no threat to you."

"I don't think you're gonna attack me."

"So what about the Lost Land do you know?" Zack asked. "You know this place is an inter-dimensional hub, right?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Just asking. The people I was staying with told me a little bit of the Lost Land. But I didn't get too far into specifics. Like… I don't know if the people in the Lost Land know that they are living in an inter-dimensional hub."

"I am very aware of that fact." Zara huffed. It sounded like the human thought she was stupid. The humans and other tool-users always looked down on her kind. But she thought she'd cut him some slack. She was the first raptor he'd ever met, and he didn't attack her. That was something.

The human suddenly broke away from Zara's side. She followed him to see what he was up to.

"What is it?" She asked when he came to a stop in front of an old ruined car.

"Just checking this out. Never know what I might find." Zack opened the passenger door, only for it to completely fall off its hinges a second later.

"Try not to alert all of the Lost Land to our location." Zara looked around to make sure nothing had heard the noise and was coming for them.

"Sorry."

Zara waited as Zack rummaged around the car. "Are all humans so curious where you're from?"

"No. I just never know what I might find. I don't exactly have anything so I need to scavenge up some supplies."

"If you have to open up every container you walk across then I have no idea how you were ever able to exit the junkyard…"

"I _was_ motivated not to be cut apart by that sludge crab thing." The human exited out of the car. He was wearing a green jacket he had found inside. Considering he had been confined to that damn supply closet while he was at the Last Remnant's bomb shelter, Zack had no clue how cold it got at night in the Lost Land. A jacket could be useful. "This might be handy. Does it get cold at night?"

"Depends on what you consider cold."

"I guess I'll just have to wait and find out."

They started walking again, with Zara leading the way. "You've been here a few days but you don't know what the nights are like?"

"Every night I've spent indoors. The base had some heating." Zack rolled up his bag of gummy worms and shoved it in one of the jacket's pockets.

"What were nights like back where you're from?"

"Depends on the what season it was. But they could get very cold. It could get cold enough that'd I have health problems or possibly freeze to death if I were to sleep outside without a lot of clothing."

"Our nights aren't anything like that. Not around this area anyway. So… besides how cold it gets at night… what is your home like?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"That's a lot. Any particular topic you want me to start with?"

"Nope. You can start with whatever."

"Hmm… let me think." Zack was silent for a second. He started to speak but was cut off by Zara.

"Quiet."

"What?" Zack whispered. His muscles tensed up, his heart started pounding. The human figured the velociraptor had sensed danger.

Zara silently darted forward and made a wide right turn. She came to a stop near the top of a hill and crouched down as she sneaked her way to the top. Zack slowly and silently followed in her footsteps.

He got alongside the raptor and looked down upon a large crater beneath the hill. In the crater were three gigantic bugs that resembled scorpions, though they only had six legs where scorpions had eight. They also lacked the two claw arms scorpions had, though they did have a tail that ended in a deadly stinger. The trio of giant bugs was feeding on a dead dinosaur. It looked to be an herbivore but Zack couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"What are those?" Zack asked so quietly he could barely hear his own question.

"Soldier bugs," Zara whispered.

"What are they eating?"

"A corythosaurus. It should be enough to feed the three of them but we need to go now, quietly."

Zack merely nodded in response. He carefully followed Zara back down the hill where they had come from. An odd thought invaded Zack's thoughts. He had no clue about raptor body language so he had no idea what nodding might mean to the raptor. She seemed to understand the gesture though. Perhaps raptors and humans were not so different… at least in the Lost Land. They certainly seemed to have a lot in common if compared to other creatures like the soldier bugs, sludge beasts or the mummites. It was all about perspective.

Zack suddenly became much more aware of his surroundings now that he knew danger was nearby. The fear of death had forced him to focus. There was a wrecked passenger airplane to his left. An unusually large pile of scrap was shoved up against it. Something large, spherical and bronze-colored was sitting at the top of the heap. On their right they were currently walking alongside a dilapidated 18-wheeler truck. There was no time to investigate what might be inside it.

Before they reached the front of the truck a pair of dinosaurs wandered into view from the opposite side. The dinosaurs walked on two legs. Sharp teeth filled their mouths and each had a blunt horn on its head. One had red scales on its face while the other one had blue.

_Fuck,_ Zack thought. The two dinosaurs were large; Zack didn't understand how neither he nor Zara hadn't heard them.

Zara slapped herself mentally. She had been so stupid. She was so worried about the soldier bugs she neglected to pay attention to any other possible predators.

"Ceratosaurus! Run!" Zara took off.

Zack once again found himself running for his life. It wasn't fair; he couldn't catch a break. He escaped the infestoids, he had escaped the sludge beast, and he wasn't planning on dying now. His legs were on fire. His mind blanked save for the singular focus of survival. He knew he couldn't outrun the two dinosaurs that had started to chase him and Zara. He had to do something. He couldn't fight so that left only one option: hide. There was only one place he could think of—the nearby plane wreck.

"I'm going for the plane!" Zack managed to huff out between ragged breaths. He hoped Zara knew what a plane was.

The raptor was able to pull ahead much faster. Zara could have easily outrun the ceratosaurus on her own but she didn't want to leave Zack to be eaten. She doubted she'd ever get another chance to talk with a friendly human. She had to do something. She knew she couldn't fight them; she had no chance at killing two ceratosaurus. She had to distract them until Zack could reach that wreck.

Zara made a sharp U-turn and doubled back towards the ceratosaurus. At first Zack thought she was going to fight but didn't look back, he couldn't afford to.

The raptor swiftly passed by the two larger dinosaurs. She turned around again and started to bark at them, taunting them as she ran nearby. She hoped it was enough to get their attention on her and off the human. It worked. Both of the ceratosaurus turned and charged in her direction.

Zara took off with greater speed, leading the ceratosaurus way from Zack.

"I come across a human I can talk to. Is it too much to ask that he could run?" She wished he would hurry up and get to the wreck.

As Zack got closer to the plane he noticed the bronze sphere on top of the scrapheap leaning on the plane was actually a large bathysphere. It seemed like the perfect place to hide. As he ran up the scrap pile he hoped he could get it open, if he couldn't he'd have to find a way inside the plane.

He was in luck, the door opened for him. Before closing himself in he looked to see how Zara was doing.

The velociraptor still held a healthy lead on her pursuers. Zara spared a look to see that Zack had reached the wreck. She planned on running away and coming back for him later. Not the best plan in the world but she didn't have time to stop and think.

Zara heard the snapping jaws of the carnivores hungry for her flesh. But they would not be catching her; she was far too fast for them. They were idiots for even thinking they could ever in a million years hope to catch her.

Zara turned… she was going to make her way in the general direction of home when a sharp pain stabbed at her right foot. The raptor nearly tripped and fell over but she maintained her balance and kept running. Pain once again tore into her right foot when it touched down on the ground again. She had stepped on a jagged metal shard sticking halfway out of the dirt. Zara couldn't believe how reckless she had been. There was barely anything out here and she just happened to step on one of the few sharp objects lying around.

Her speed had greatly decreased. She could barely run. Every step with her right foot was pure hell. She couldn't get away, not now.

Zack had witnessed what had happened. "Zara! Over here!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. He'd give away his position to the ceratosaurus but he couldn't leave the raptor on her own. She wouldn't make it. Zack just hoped the bathysphere was sturdy enough to hold up to the two dinosaurs.

Zara saw Zack and made a desperate run for the wrecked airplane. Her foot was bleeding badly. With every agonizing step the metal sharp became further lodged in her flesh. The ceratosaurus were getting close; she could feel the vibrations of their frenzied footfalls. They roared in anticipation. They knew their prey was weakened and that it was only a matter of time.

"Come on! You can make it! You're almost there!"

Zara forced herself to run up the pile of scrap and she charged past the human into the bathysphere. Zack pulled the door closed behind them just as the two ceratosaurus reached the scrap pile and started to climb their way to the top.

The ceratosaurus with the blue face reach the top first, smashing its head against the observation window and breaking the glass. It wasn't a large enough hole for the large dinosaur to get at the raptor and human. The red one finally got to the top and started to bite at the metal sphere.

The two ceratosaurus were not amused that their meal had hidden in the metal ball. They bit and scratched at it but could not break the protective orb open. Zara and Zack huddled together in silence, just waiting for the metal to give in.

There wasn't exactly a lot of room at the top of the heap between the bathysphere and the two ceratosaurus. The one with the red face finally became agitated enough with accidentally bumping into the blue one that it went back down the scrap pile.

The blue one didn't give up so easily. But a pained noise of fear and death forced the blue-faced dinosaur to turned its horned head around to see what was wrong. Through the broken glass window, Zara and Zack had a perfect view of what had happened. The red ceratosaurus had been killed by the soldier bugs. Though there were eight now instead of just the three they had seen before. Zack had no idea where the other five had come from; it was sort of hard to miss giant scorpion look-alikes.

The blue ceratosaurus gave out a roar that was part rage and part fear before charging down the heap. At first it looked like it was going to attack the giant bugs, but it actually tried to run past them. The soldier bugs caught it and stabbed it with their dagger-tipped tails. The blue ceratosaurus died within seconds.

The eight soldier bugs began to feed on the two dead dinosaurs, trapping Zack and Zara.

"I don't think the bugs know we're in here," Zack finally whispered.

"I'm not sure," Zara backed away from the window. "They might just have enough food already. But I say we don't find out."

"Yeah, I guess we're stuck here until they leave," Zack agreed.

Zack was more exhausted now than he had ever been in his life. It felt like someone had stolen his throat and lungs and left them to sizzle on a grill before returning them to him. He knew he had no right to complain (even silently to himself), Zara was way worse off. That metal shard sticking out of her foot looked like it hurt like hell.

Zara whimpered softly.

"We gotta do something about that." Zack looked at the metal shard sticking out of the raptor's bloody foot. He thought a moment on what he should do. His grandparents had insisted he learn basic first aid back when he was a teenager. Unfortunately that was a set of skills Zack never got to practice. It had been a long time since he had any first aid review and he didn't trust himself to do it… but he didn't have a choice right now.

If Zack remembered right Zara had a puncture wound. He knew he needed to stop the bleeding; the problem was he didn't have anything but the clothes on his back and his bag of gummy worms.

"Dammit. I don't have any proper materials to help you."

Zara let out a prolonged sigh.

Zack removed his jacket and started trying to rip off the right arm. It took a few times but it finally tore.

"What are you doing?" Zara asked.

"We've got to stop the bleeding somehow. You really should have clean bandages but this will have to do." He turned the torn sleeve inside out. He figured the interior had to be a little cleaner than the exterior. It probably didn't even matter but it was all he could think to do. He set the ripped sleeve aside.

"Alright. I'm gonna pull this out. You ready?"

Zara let out another sigh. "Yeah."

Zack gripped the shard with his left hand and her foot with his right. "Okay. On three. One. Two. Three." Zack carefully pulled and the metal slowly slide out of the raptor's foot.

Zara let out a pained hiss. It hurt just as much going out as coming in. Actually it was worse than going in, at least that was fast. Zack bandaged her foot with his torn sleeve. He had stopped the bleeding the best he could and tried his best to prevent contamination and infection. There wasn't really anything else he could do—then he thought of something else.

"We need to keep your wound elevated above your heart."

"Why?"

"Restricts the blood flow so it doesn't bleed so bad."

"And how am I going to do that?" Zara grunted. "I'm tired." She laid down on her side. "I'm not sleeping with my feet in the air."

"I'll keep it elevated for you." Zack sat cross-legged and scooted closer to the raptor. "May I?" He asked. He did not want to grab at a velociraptor's foot without permission.

She stared at him with her piercing purple eyes before answering. "Yes."

Zack gently grabbed her bandaged foot and hunched down lower, leaving his chest closer to his legs. He brought her foot up and over his left shoulder, letting it rest on him. He could feel her crescent-shaped killing claw on the back of his neck.

Zara took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. It was starting to get dark and she could still hear the soldier bugs eating outside.

"Guess we're stuck here for the night," she said.

"I guess so. At least the bugs are leaving us alone."

"Yeah, there is that."

The pair was quiet for a while. Over time Zara's breathing started to sound more and more relaxed. Zack wondered if he should throw the metal shard out the broken window, if only to make sure they didn't accidentally lie down on it or something. It would sure be a bitch if that miserable strip of metal ended up hurting one of them again. Zack decided not to though, it was covered in Zara's blood and he realized if he threw that out it might attract the soldier bugs… or other predators. He could even smell the blood and if he could, then animals most certainly could. Though Zara had already left a trail of blood outside so it likely didn't matter either way.

"Are you a healer or something?" Zara broke the silence.

"No. I barely remember anything I learned about first aid. I'm just trying not to make the situation any worse than it already is."

"That wasn't your fault," Zara's voice was soft. "I wasn't paying attention. I wasn't paying attention to where I was running, I wasn't paying attention for other predators, I—"

"You were looking out for me. You could have gotten away easily but you distracted those dinosaurs until I could get to safety. You saved my life. Thank you."

"You're welcome. And thanks for helping me with… you know, this."

"Happy to do it."

An awkward silence settled in and lingered for a few moments.

"You're really warm," Zara finally said.

"Sorry."

"No. I like it."

"Oh. So… you wanna pick up where we left off before we found the soldier bugs?"

"I don't remember. What was that?"

"You asked me what my home was like."

"Oh yeah. How about we talk about that tomorrow. I'm tired."

"Sure. I could use some sleep too." Zack could have used some food as well. He had breakfast at the bomb shelter before the attack and some gummy worms, but hadn't eaten anything else all day. It wasn't like he could do anything about it though. His hunger wasn't that bad. Exhaustion had hit him harder than hunger had and his arms were still really sore. Still, even with all the pain he was still filled with fascination. He had met a talking dinosaur. It was probably too early to say but he had felt that they had somewhat become friends. Their shared struggle for survival and willingness to help one another certainly suggested they were heading in the direction of friendship.

"Good night, Zack," Zara sounded like she was half asleep already.

"Good night, Zara." Zack knew his hunched-over, cross-legged position would not be conducive to sleep but he was determined to stay put and keep Zara's foot elevated. He could do that much for Zara at least.

* * *

**Author's Note:** The soldier bugs appeared in the 2008 videogame _Turok_.


	7. Into the Jungle

**Chapter 7: Into the Jungle**

Zack slowly started to wake. When the hazy fog of sleep had cleared from his mind and he started to think, he was aware that he was in a different position than he was before. The last thing he remembered he was sitting cross-legged—now he was lying on his side. The velociraptor he had met yesterday was not in view… but there was something very warm behind him. And the warm being was more than just behind him, it had its arms on him and a leg on top of him. Zack looked at the clawed hands that held him.

He tried to move to get a good look at Zara but the second he moved too much she held him in place.

"Hey, Zara. Lemme up."

He only got a few unintelligible mumbles as a response. The raptor was still half asleep. After the human started struggling again Zara woke up.

"What do you want to get up so badly for?"

"There's sunlight out. I'm hungry."

Zara groaned. She did not want to get up yet. She was far too comfortable. The human was a great source of warmth. She hadn't slept this well in a long time, despite the wound on her foot.

"Fine." She finally released him from her iron grip. He got up and looked out the broken window. "Are the soldier bugs still out there?" Zara didn't believe they would still be around but asked anyway.

"No. They're all gone."

"Any meat left?"

"No. It just looks like bones to me."

"So much for an easy breakfast." Zara slowly stood up, testing out putting weight on her injured foot. It was sore but it felt like it had healed well over the night, though Zara knew she probably wouldn't be one hundred percent for a few more days.

"Looks safe enough." Zack said as Zara came over to see for herself.

Zara sniffed at the air. "Yeah, we can go."

The human opened the door and the pair left the bathysphere, carefully making their way down the pile of trash it was on top of.

"Where'd all those extra soldier bugs come from yesterday? I only saw the three at first but there were more at killed those two carnivores. I would like to think I'm not blind and missed over half of the giant scorpion-things."

"They live underground. They pop up right out of the ground to ambush prey. They live beneath this area."

"Why didn't you mention that sooner?"

"How was I to know you didn't know that? You were in the junkyard. I figured your old pack might have cared to mention there were terrible things living underground on the outskirts."

"Nope. They never said a word about it to me."

"Well now you know."

"Isn't it dangerous for us to be walking around here then?"

"Us? No. You usually gotta be really loud to entice the soldier bugs to burst out from underground. We're both light on our feet. I _would_ have mentioned something if you were being overly noisy but you weren't. With the exception of that one time, but that was an accident."

"Oh. So, what are we gonna do for food?"

Zara went over and picked at the skeletons of the dead ceratosaurus. The soldier bugs had picked the bones clean, there was nothing left for her to eat. "I dunno. I can wait though."

"I'm hungry."

"You still have those worms of yours, don't you?"

"They won't be enough."

"I don't think I'm well enough to hunt… at least not on my own. Not much to hunt around here anyway."

"I can just scavenge food. Could we go back to that train car? I can get some more food there." Zack knew eating nothing but candy and junk food would be bad for him and ultimately not very filling but he knew where the food was and wanted to be out of the area quickly since learning the soldier bugs could pop out of the ground at any moment.

"Sure."

They backtracked to the train car. Fear of the soldier bugs had made Zack more aware of his surroundings. Near the train car he found a dusty old black backpack he hadn't noticed before. He took it for himself. Zack made sure to put plenty of snacks in his new backpack in case he didn't get any more meals for the day. When he slipped the backpack around his back he noticed his exposed arm from the side of his jacket that no longer had a sleeve. His arm was still red, though it didn't itch as much as before.

With his pack full Zack went about eating breakfast. He tried offering Zara various treats but she rejected them all. When the human had enough they turned around and started walking again.

"Zara, where are we going, exactly?" Zack felt stupid for not asking this sooner. He figured they were going back to her home but he had no idea what a raptor might call home.

"To my pack's nest."

"With other raptors?"

"Of course. What? You think I live by myself?"

"No. I didn't think about it much at all, really. Do you think they might attack me?"

"Not as long as you stay with me."

"Okay. How many raptors are we talking about here?"

"You'll see when we get there." Zara liked Zack, though she knew it was stupid to give the human specifics on her pack's strength, especially since he was going to see for himself soon enough.

In the distance Zack saw that the dry desolation of the outskirts didn't go on forever. There was a hint of green on the horizon. It looked like they were heading towards a jungle.

"What's your home dimension like?" Zara asked.

"Well it's…" Zack had to stop and think for a second. He wasn't sure where or how to start on describing what his home dimension was like.

"It's what?"

"Kind of a terrible place, actually." Zack had come to a decision. Thinking about home and all the things that had gone through his head, he decided to be honest.

"Terrible how?"

"For starters, all the dinosaurs are extinct. And since meeting you, I've learned that dinosaurs are awesome—way more awesome than I could ever have imagined. Even if some want to eat me this is just too cool. Only humans are capable of speaking where I come from. It's actually really boring. And before you ask—no we don't eat each other. There are animals and plants we eat." Zack remembered some of what he had told the members of the Last Remnant, he could just tell Zara what he had told them.

"Only humans can talk and no dinosaurs… it does sound terrible… and boring."

"Well, the humans make it less boring by dividing into factions and trying to kill each other."

"I take it humans are the dominant species then?"

"Yeah. Who's the dominant species here?"

Zara thought for a moment. That was indeed a good question. "I'm not sure. I don't think any one species is dominant over the others. Whoever is winning kinda goes in cycles." At the current point in time the humans of the Lost Land were doing very well, but Zara didn't want to admit that to Zack. She feared that if he knew that he might go and try to join with one of the human groups. The velociraptor could kill him if it came to that but she really didn't want to.

As they reached the edge of the jungle the ocean of dead-brown dirt gave way to various bushes and shrubs. As they went further in the dusty boulders and scrap was replaced by vibrant plant life.

Zara led the human through the easier paths that weren't clogged up with so many trees. They were taking a risk as they faced a greater chance of running into larger herbivores or carnivores where the flora wasn't so dense but it was a chance Zara was willing to take. She wanted to make it back to the nest before nightfall. She knew humans had weak eyesight and didn't want Zack meeting a bunch of new raptors in the dark.

Up ahead Zara saw what she had been dreading. In a large clearing in front of them there was a shallow lake. Around the lake was a mixed herd of stegosaurus, parasaurolophus and triceratops. It was a nightmare herd for velociraptors: the stegosaurus could defend from behind, the triceratops from the front, and the parasaurolophus were good all-around rumblers. Though it wasn't as if Zara would dare try to take on any of the herbivores by herself anyway. They'd be fine as long as they gave the herd a wide berth—but that option disappeared when the human bolted forward.

"This is amazing!" Zack was hardly an expert on dinosaurs but he recognized the ones before him immediately. With a small head, large body with bony plates going down the back and a spiked tail it was hard to confuse a stegosaurus with anything else. Parasaurolophus was easy to distinguish from other hadrosaurs from the giant snorkel-like structure atop its head. The three-horned triceratops was one of the best-known dinosaurs from Zack's dimension.

"Zack!" Zara quietly hissed. She didn't want to be too loud and alert the large dinosaurs to her presence. "Come back here you idiot!" The human obviously didn't hear her. He had been cooperative so far and she didn't believe he was willfully ignoring her.

She couldn't believe what he was doing. He was going right up to them!

"Hello! I don't mean to bother you but…" Zack tried to talk to one of the stegosaurus. The massive creature looked at the human with its tiny eyes. Uninterested, the stegosaurus turned and went back to eating some ferns near the lake.

Zara couldn't believe what she was seeing: the idiot was trying to talk to the herbivores. Though an even greater surprise was that the herbivores didn't see him as a threat. If she had wandered over there they would have attacked on sight. She didn't understand why they didn't attack him; she had seen their kind attack humans before. There must have been something different about Zack.

Zara dared to sneak a little closer. She hoped the human would pay attention to her this time. "Zack! Get back here!"

The human turned his head in her direction. He had heard the velociraptor but he didn't make out what she was saying.

"Come back here. Get away from them!"

Zack still couldn't hear what Zara was saying so he decided to walk over to her.

"What are you doing hiding back here?"

"Follow me and be quiet." Zara slowly backed away from the area; Zack was casually following her.

The velociraptor led them into a more congested part of the jungle—far away from the large, dangerous herbivores.

"What is the matter with you?" Zara turned to Zack when she was sure they were a safe distance away.

"What do you mean?"

"What in the Lost Land possessed you to walk up to those dinosaurs like that?"

"I'd never seen them before. I wanted to get a good look and try to introduce myself."

There were so many things wrong with that statement Zara had no idea where to begin. "Get a good look at them? They're huge! You can see them just fine from a distance! They've could'a attacked you!"

"They're just plant-eaters. Why would they attack me?"

"Normally they would have. I've seen their kind attack humans before."

"They didn't do anything to me. They ignored me."

"Yes. I saw that. I'm not blind."

"Why did they ignore me?"

"I have no idea." Zara started to walk and the human obediently followed. They still needed to get to the nest and they had wasted a great deal of time.

"Well, I'm glad they didn't attack me but they didn't bother to say hello either."

"What? Why would they say hello?"

"Why not?" Zack asked.

"Why would you think you could understand them?" Zara now at least understood why Zack was trying to _talk_ to them.

"I don't see why I couldn't." Zack shrugged his shoulders. "Why can't I understand them? I can understand you."

"They can't talk, they're just animals."

"Maybe they can and you just can't understand them?"

"I can understand plenty. They just can't talk."

"Alright." Zack didn't want to argue the issue. It didn't make any sense to him that he could speak with a velociraptor just fine but couldn't communicate with a stegosaurus, parasaurolophus or triceratops. With all the other things he didn't know about the Lost Land this was likely going to be a mystery he would have to figure out later.

* * *

Conversation became sparse after the encounter with the herbivore herd and became non-existent when Zara told Zack he needed to be quiet. They were getting close to the pack's nest and Zara didn't want any of her pack staging any sneak attacks on the human. She needed to focus and listen in case any other raptors were nearby, luckily there didn't seem to be anyone around.

The pair finally came to a stop in front of a rugged plateau. The pale brown rock was covered in overgrown green vines.

Suddenly a head poked through some of the vines. Zack recognized the long, angular face as belonging to a velociraptor. The head suddenly retreated into the vines and a second later the raptor leapt out from the vines and landed on the mossy ground before Zara and Zack.

The velociraptor was larger than Zara. Gray scales were cut by black stripes. Green eyes stared at the human intruder.

"Zara, you brought a human here?" The gray velociraptor bared his teeth.

"This one can talk with us!" The lavender raptor beamed.

"You're joking."

"Am not. Zack, say something."

"Something." Zack wasn't intending to be a smartass but he really couldn't think of something to say and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Big deal. Humans talk all the time."

"You missed the important part. This one just listened to me…"

The gray raptor was still for a moment.

"Onyx, this is Zack Skellington. Zack this is Onyx."

"Hi, Onyx."

Onyx stood in silence, his jaw slightly moving as if he were trying to speak but couldn't. Finally he found his voice. "Ice! Get over here! Zara brought a human!"

A moment later and a second velociraptor jumped through the tangled vines that ran down the side of the plateau.

The white raptor with blue stripes immediately closed in on the human, her clawed hands raised up, ready to seize him.

"I haven't had human in a good long while."

"Back off!" Zara hissed and stood in-between Zack and Ice. "This human is _not_ for eating!"

"What are you babbling about? Of course it's for eating! What else would you do with a human?"

"Talk with him," Zara answered.

The white raptor froze for a second before she started laughing. "Ha ha! Yeah right! The day a human speaks to me is the day I—"

Onyx cut Ice off before she said something she'd regret. "The human _can_ talk to us. I heard it myself!"

"What?"

"Hello," Zack said.

"Uhh… you can understand us?" Ice asked dumbly.

"Yes."

Ice inhaled deeply before… "Hey everyone! Get over here! Zara found a talking human!"

Four more raptors came bounding out of the vines. This was precisely what Zara was afraid of. Apparently the whole pack was at the nest. They didn't even have any eggs or hatchlings to look after; her pack was just full of lazy raptors. She was hoping there were maybe one or two raptors lingering around so she could introduce Zack to the pack by degree instead of everyone at once.

"What is it?" An orange raptor with black stripes asked. His sleepy eyes attested to the fact that Ice's yelling had just woken him up.

"Didn't you just here me? Zara brought a human to the nest!"

"So?"

"She brought a _live_ human! That can talk to us!"

"Prove it," the orange raptor demanded.

"Yes, I can understand all of you," as Zack spoke all the raptors went silent.

"What the… Say something else," a raptor with light magenta scales and dark violet stripes ordered.

"Something else."

"It can talk! And it obeys!" The magenta raptor yelped.

Suddenly a green raptor with dark green stripes burst forward, claws raised. Zara snarled and tackled him before the green raptor reached Zack.

Zack stepped back. This was not going well. It looked like Zara was suddenly locked in a death battle… all because of him.

"Moss, that's enough!" The orange raptor yelled. When the green raptor didn't respond the orange one slammed into him and knocked him over. "I said that's enough, Moss!"

Moss hissed. "It's a human! What are you all waiting for?! We should kill it now before it kills us!"

"Talon, he's friendly," Zara said to the orange raptor. "I brought him here. I wouldn't have done so if I thought he was a threat. He's harmless."

A black raptor with broad green stripes slowly walked towards the human.

"Vertigo, if you—"

"Don't worry, Zara. I'm not going to hurt him." The raptor started to sniff at Zack. "This human smells… different. Though it's hard to tell with _your_ scent all over him." Vertigo eyed Zara.

"So… what are we going to do?" The magenta raptor asked.

"You are not going to do anything, Amethyst. I am going to go get the Alpha. It is her responsibility to decide what we do about this." Talon turned around and leapt back up into the vines, disappearing.

The magenta raptor—Amethyst tried to move closer to Zack but she was impeded by Zara. "Back off!"

"What? How come Vertigo gets to see the human but I can't?"

"You can see him just fine from there." Amethyst was Moss' mate and Zara didn't trust her, not after the way Moss had been acting.

Talon returned back through the vines, this time another raptor accompanied him. All the velociraptors Zack had seen were rather… colorful but this one took the cake. It looked like someone had taken a blue raptor and dunked her upside down into a vat of oil. Her head, neck and back was a rather nice shade of black. She had a couple of dark blue stripes on her head and her eyes were a brilliant green. On the top of her neck and shoulders were a few yellow stripes punctured by smaller green stripes. Her claws were jet-black.

The black-blue raptor shook the remaining sleep from her eyes. She had been in such a deep, peaceful sleep that she hadn't been awoken by Ice's earlier call.

"Talon tells me you brought a human that can talk to us. Zara, explain yourself."

"Alpha Crystal," Zara bowed her head. "I found him yesterday."

"Is that what you were doing yesterday? Playing with your new human friend?" Talon sniggered.

Zara knew better than to shoot her mouth off to the pack's beta, at least not right now. Not when she was trying to help the human out. "He came out of the junkyard. He told me he's a foreigner. The pack that took him in was attacked. He managed to escape a sludge beast before he found me."

"And you think that makes it okay to bring him back here?" Crystal took a couple of steps closer to Zara and bared her teeth in a display of dominance. "What if this is a human trick to find our nest?"

"It's no trick! This human is different! He can understand us and talk with us! He means us no harm. He's never even seen velociraptors until yesterday. I'm the first one he's ever met."

"A human that can communicate with us? _And_ doesn't attack us on sight? Such a thing is impossible."

"It's true," Vertigo spoke up. "The human understands us. And he has not acted aggressive."

Crystal turned her head towards Zack. "Come, human. Talk to me."

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

The black and blue raptor nearly fell backwards in shock. "You can talk!"

"Yes I can."

It took a moment for the leader of the pack to regain her composure. She thought this was going to be some elaborately annoying prank but it turned out to be completely real.

"I am Crystal, Alpha of the Shattered Sickle Pack. Who are you and where do you come from?"

"My name is Zack Skellington. I come from an alternate dimension. I've only lived in the Lost Land for a few days. I came through a portal but it closed and I have no way back home."

Crystal cocked her head to one side and started to circle around the human. Zack stood in place. Crystal forced Zara to back away a few paces.

"Why can you understand us?"

"I don't know. It was a complete surprise to me."

The alpha raptor finally stopped circling and stood right in the human's face. "What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know how to get back home and the group that took me in is dead. Zara seemed to think I might work something out with you guys and I might stay here."

Crystal turned to glare at Zara.

"What? Having a human on our side would be helpful."

"I agree," Vertigo added.

"I don't like it," Moss said.

"What are you afraid of, Moss?" Vertigo snapped, "He's clawless. What do you think he's gonna do? Gum us to death with those dull teeth of his?"

Moss kept his maw shut after that.

Onyx laughed. "He _is_ clawless. Afraid of the clawless one, Moss?"

The green raptor merely hissed at the gray one in response.

"If you don't want me around then I'll leave. I have no where else to go through."

"You could go back where you came from," Crystal offered.

"I can't, the portal closed—"

"That's not what I meant. I meant going back to the junkyard."

"I don't think anyone survived the attack."

"Can't survive on your own?"

"Humans follow a pack structure, just like us," Zara spoke up. "A human on its own won't last. Sending him away is a death sentence."

"And I don't know my way back," Zack added.

"Look he's nice," Zara spoke up again. "Yesterday we were chased by a pair of ceratosaurus and I hurt myself. He helped to heal my wound." She pointed at the makeshift bandage wrapped around her right foot. She purposefully neglected to mention that she had hurt herself trying to provide a distraction so the human could get away.

Crystal looked at Zara's injured foot, and then looked back to the human. "You willingly helped a velociraptor?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I?"

"Humans always attack," Crystal stated bluntly.

"I'm different from the other humans."

She sniffed him. "Yes… you are."

Zack suddenly had a coughing fit, prompting Crystal to take a couple of steps away from him.

"Are you ill?" Vertigo asked.

"No, I don't think so. It's probably just all this excitement. Plus I'm new here. There might be something in the air that I'm not used to. I hope I'm just adjusting."

Vertigo walked up and sniffed at the human.

"He might be diseased. We should send him away immediately," Moss said.

"Relax." Vertigo turned to the green raptor. "Human diseases wouldn't transfer over to us. He's not falling over coughing blood. It might be nothing more than a tummy ache. You know how frail humans are. Uh… no offense."

"None taken." Zack had to wonder how Vertigo came up with a tummy ache as the source of his coughing fit, but didn't bring it up.

Crystal had come to a conclusion. "You will stay with us for the night. Zara, you brought him here. He is your responsibility to look after."

"You're really going to let him stay here?" Moss spoke up.

"You challenge my decision?"

"No, Alpha. But I think it's a dangerous one."

"If he is truly the enemy then sending him away would be a bad idea. If he leaves he could get other humans and bring them right to us. Here is he trapped and helpless." Crystal had no need to explain herself to Moss, but she did so anyway. She always thought it better for her pack to understand things… and hopefully learn from them. The pack would be stronger for it in the long run. "Tomorrow we will determine if this human can be trusted. But for tonight, we rest."

Zack didn't like the sound of that. He wasn't sure how raptors would go about testing his trustworthiness.

The raptors leapt back up through the tangle of vines until only Zack, Zara and Crystal were left.

"Well, come on." Crystal motioned for the human to move up to the vines.

"I can't jump that high. I'll have to climb." Zack found the climb to be rather easy. There were plenty of rocks to grab hold of and the side of the plateau wasn't perfectly vertical. Zack was easily able to reach the vines and pushed through them, they gave way and revealed a secret cave. A few small holes in the side of the rock wall provided some light, allowing the human to see several nests made out of sticks, leaves and moss. There were several bones scattered about, most of them were devoid of any meat. They few that did have some meat still on them were collected and lazily chewed on as the raptors made themselves comfortable.

Zack quickly moved away from the entrance. He figured Zara and Crystal were coming up after him and didn't want to be knocked over. A few seconds later and Zara came through the vines, followed by Crystal.

"Stick with Zara and do not bother the rest of us if you wish to live, human," Crystal whispered to Zack before moving off.

The human turned to look back at his one friend. "So, where am I staying?"

"Follow me."

Zack stayed as close to Zara as he could without bumping into her. Various raptors stared at him as he did his best to stay clear of the nests. Eventually Zara stopped at one nest in particular. Zack turned around and noticed this nest was quite a bit further from the others. It was also significantly smaller.

"This is my nest," Zara said, "you will sleep here with me."

"I don't think there's enough room for both of us. I can just sleep on the stone…" Zack really didn't want to but he doubted a nest of twigs and leaves would be all that more comfortable than stone.

"You'll fit. Do you really want to chance leaving my side?"

"No. But I could…" Zack was going to say he could sleep right next to the nest but decided against arguing for it. Sleeping on the stone floor didn't really have any appeal. And he had already slept with Zara last night when they were stuck in the bathysphere. There really wasn't any point in arguing.

Zara's stomach growled as she lay down in her nest.

"Want something to eat?" Zack took off his backpack.

"That weird human food? No thanks."

"Okay then." Zack took a few bites of the junk food just so he could say he had eaten dinner.

"Well? Come on. It's started to get late and I know you humans don't see too well in the dark."

Zack placed his backpack against the side of the nest and squeezed in next to Zara. It was a tight fit. Zack noticed they were getting a few looks from the other raptors as they settled down in their own nests. It was at this point Zack realized there was a reason Zara's nest was so much smaller than the others—the others were made to accommodate two. Every raptor in the pack was paired off… except for Zara and the owner of a yet claimed nest that was also smaller than the others. There were three raptors that had yet to settle in—the Alpha Crystal, Talon and Vertigo. They were far off from the others, stuffed in a corner where Zack couldn't hear them. He figured that was on purpose. Of course they wouldn't want him to listen in as they discussed what they were planning for him.

* * *

Crystal had never thought she would ever have met a human that could talk with velociraptors. Such a notion was ridiculous, the stuff of fantasy. Zara had always been curious about humans but her curiosity was relatively harmless, until now. Crystal never would have thought Zara would bring a live human back to the nest, or that the human would be friendly. This was certainly awkward and highly unorthodox but Crystal knew this was an opportunity she couldn't afford to pass up. Right now her pack had no eggs or hatchlings to look after, this one human wasn't going to be a threat to a bunch of adult velociraptors. With no young to care for they could focus all their attention on the human.

Crystal knew there had to be some way they could make use of a friendly human that could understand them, even if she wasn't sure how yet. That is why she was talking with her beta Talon and his mate Vertigo—they were far smarter than she was. If the position of Alpha were determined by intelligence rather than the ability to fight, Talon or Vertigo would be leading the Shattered Sickle Pack instead of Crystal. Crystal was not an idiot and could handle most things, but this situation called for advanced critical thinking and had little room for error.

"How can this human talk with us when no others can?" Crystal wondered aloud.

"He is a foreigner," Vertigo offered, "maybe in his dimension humans and raptors communicating with each other is normal?"

"If that were the case then I doubt the human would have been so fearful of us," Talon said.

"You give him too little credit, my mate. He held his ground and didn't flee, nor did he attack. That's more than I have ever seen from any human before."

"Do either of you have any ideas on how we could use him to our advantage?" Crystal asked.

"I think we should worry about testing his loyalty before seeing what we could have him do." Talon looked over at the human. Zara was already sharing her small nest with him. The sight made Talon a little sick to his stomach. Humans were meant for eating in his opinion but he would not disobey Crystal's decision to keep him alive for the time being.

"Maybe we can test his loyalty and usefulness at the same time," Vertigo said.

"And how can we do that?" Crystal asked.

* * *

Zack spared a glance at the three raptors muttering to themselves in the corner. He couldn't make out a single specific word they were saying. He was sure the other raptors lying in their nests could hear; they were much closer than he was. He was certain raptors had better hearing than he did as well.

Eventually Zack gave up on wondering what they were saying. His mind kept conjuring up bad ideas: that they might decide to turn on him and eat him or give him some sort of test he couldn't possibly accomplish. He instead turned to look at Zara; she was staring down some of the other raptors that were glaring at them. When she felt Zack's eyes on her she turned to look at the human.

"What is it?" Zara asked.

"Why do you trust me?"

"You can talk to me."

"That's not a good reason."

"You _chose_ to talk to me."

"That's all it takes?"

"No other human has done it before, not voluntarily. Here's another reason: you can't hurt me. You humans are worthless without your weapons. I could kill you any time I wanted. It's you that has trust in me. Plus I smelled the fear on you when we first met. You cannot fool me. I know you have no malicious intentions." Zara almost let out a chuckle but held it in; the expression on Zack's face was rather amusing.

"If you can tell all that then why don't the others trust me?"

"They've only just met you. They didn't see how you were willing to help me. Plus they're just bent out of shape. If our places were reversed, would your pack be so quick to accept me?"

"Probably not."

"Just give them some time to get used to the idea of having a friendly human around."

"Okay." Zack realized the raptor pack was being rather accepting of him. There was no way the humans back home would have been as kind to a velociraptor. Zack figured the raptors could somehow sense his honesty. They did tend to sniff at him a lot. Perhaps honesty had a certain smell? Zack thought a moment before speaking again. "If our positions were reversed and my pack was suspicious of you, I'd fight to let you stay with us."

"I believe you would," Zara let loose a light laugh. "You do seem to like dinosaurs."

"I think I like velociraptors."

Zack looked over when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The three standing raptors had dispersed. Vertigo and Talon went to a nest together, leaving Crystal to take the other small nest. He would not have guessed the leader of the pack was alone, he would have guessed leaders would attract mates more easily than others. It wasn't something he was going to ask about though. But there was something else he did want to ask.

"How's your foot doing?"

"It feels fine."

"Even after all that walking we did today?"

"Yes, it's healing very well. Much better than I would have thought."

"That's good to hear."

It was started to get notably darker and Zack was having trouble seeing. With no technology around things could really get dark—the kind of dark Zack had only seen out in the countryside back home. It was something he was going to have to get used to. He wasn't cold though. The air did get a tad cooler than what it was during the day but the body heat he and Zara shared felt like it had reached volcanic levels. It was easy enough for the two to drift off the sleep.


End file.
